Putin's Stasi ID card found in Germany

An East German secret police identity card belonging to Russian President Vladimir Putin when he was a Soviet spy in the then socialist country in the early 1980s has been found in East German secret police archives in Dresden.

The pass sports a black and white picture of a young Putin printed on green passport-style paper. Putin was then a mid-ranking Soviet officer and was posted in Dresden, East Germany from 1985 to 1990.

At that time, he used to work for the KGB spy service as a liaison officer with the East German State Security Service, commonly known as "Stasi", CNN reported.

The identity card was publicly released by BTSU, the Federal Commissioner for the Records of the State Security Service of former East Germany, and published in German newspaper Bild.

Dagmar Hovestadt, the spokesperson for the Stasi records agency, told CNN that Putin would have used the identity pass to access Stasi facilities.

"In the 15 districts of East Germany, the KGB representatives thus received access to the Stasi district office buildings. This was the case for Vladimir Putin as well," the BTSU said in an e-mail statement.

However, BTSU stressed that the existence of a Stasi identity card did not mean that Putin had served for the East German secret police service.