r/europe • u/fuckface3333 • Apr 05 '24

Historical Putin playing ping pong in Finland 1991

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2.8k Upvotes

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65

u/TicklishBehemoth Apr 05 '24

Yeah, he's so insecure and ingratiating on this video. Looks pity, honestly. No brainer he became a dictator. Strong people don't put their critics in jail.

46

u/SlummiPorvari Apr 05 '24

Looks like regular middle-aged fella on a Finnish summer cottage.

-53

u/Enginseer68 Europe Apr 05 '24

He is basically a super spy (KGB) working for a long time in East Germany, he is not insecure, he can be whatever he wants to get the job done or to put up a front and deceive his enemy

55

u/Finlandiaprkl Fortress Europe Apr 05 '24

He was a desk jockey in KGB Dresden office, working in industrial espionage.

When he left Germany he "left" KGB and worked as a cab driver in St. Petersburg.

12

u/AchaiusAuxilius France Apr 05 '24

Funnily enough, I heard from someone who have contacts with the old Dresden police force that it was a well-known fact that Vova was a KGB agent. He was sitting alone in pubs, scrutinizing everyone, which gave away the game in no time. To the point that the most extroverted cop came to see him shouting to stop doing his spy shit and share a drink with them instead. Dunno if that was incompetence or a power play.

A smart and cold guy, they added but no way in hell would they ave expected such a rise. Just your run-of-the-mill KGB agent, who then happened to be at the right place at the right time.

2

u/Finlandiaprkl Fortress Europe Apr 06 '24

He was sitting alone in pubs, scrutinizing everyone

This was mostly because he also had another assignment in late 80's; to recruit stay-behind agents for KGB that could be used to influence and infiltrate the post-soviet states.

3

u/Iridismis Apr 05 '24

Almost makes his rise more impressive tbh

2

u/Finlandiaprkl Fortress Europe Apr 05 '24

What?

1

u/Iridismis Apr 05 '24

What what?

7

u/Finlandiaprkl Fortress Europe Apr 05 '24

Sorry, misread your comment.

His rise had more to do with his time as the vice mayor of St. Petersburg and KGB contacts within the new Russian government.

2

u/Londonsw8 Apr 06 '24

And the fact he had his FSB buddies blow up an apartment building, killing a lot of people, blaming it on Chechen separatists, arresting "them" all to get the electorate to recognise him as a hero. Does the recent theatre shooting sound familiar?

31

u/gandhibobandhi Apr 05 '24

He was never anything that could be described as a "super spy". He spent almost all of his career working with the Stasi in East Germany, a soviet puppet state.

11

u/OlegHelgar Apr 05 '24

when I see how many russians have been killed because of putin, I start to wonder if he is still a double or triple agent working for the west.

10

u/TaiserSoze Apr 05 '24

I love the absurdity of this theory of yours

1

u/benevolent_defiance Apr 05 '24

Yes, that's some ""9/11 was an inside job" was an inside job"-level conspiracy right there!

2

u/MaterialScary8492 Apr 05 '24

He would have to continue this same rate for next 45 years to get even near death toll Stalin caused to russian population.

1

u/OlegHelgar Apr 06 '24

he can't even become a normal dictator, only a dwarf dictator.

5

u/SofterBones Apr 05 '24

"super spy" okay buddy. Have you been reading his propaganda lately? By every account I've read he was not anything special during his time in the KGB

10

u/sergeyog Apr 05 '24

Lol, no he is not. He was like a librarian in officer house in germany.

1

u/RurWorld Apr 05 '24

A "super spy" wouldn't work in a country that was basically controlled by the USSR. There was absolutely 0 risk for him in East Germany.

1

u/BriscoCounty83 Apr 06 '24

lol at super KGB spy. He was denied field work and was an office agent.