Putin feels a certain nostalgia for former East Germany (Roundup)

Nov 8, 2009, 14:16 GMT

   Moscow - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was fond of his life in the former communist East Germany, where he was based as a KGB officer up until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, he said in an interview on Russia's NTW television Sunday.

   'I still remember the warmth and geniality (in East Germany),' he was reported as saying in the interview to be broadcast later Sunday evening.

According to Moscow media reports it is the first time that Putin has talked on camera about his memories of the fall of the Wall.

   Germany had shown a positive development following its reunification and ties between Russia and Germany had found a strong new foundation, he said.

   'Any nostalgia is secondary to this,' Putin said.

Recalling the events of the autumn of 1989 leading up to the fall of the Wall, Putin said it was a 'very stormy' period in which he himself had confronted an angry crowd of demonstrators outside his own KGB offices in Dresden.

He said he did not identify himself as being with the KGB, but rather: 'I said I was an interpreter.'

Putin said the fall of The Wall 20 years ago had become 'unavoidable' in that 'in a modern world it is impossible to keep hold of a people in such a way.'

In addition, the division of Germany was something 'unnatural' and 'from the beginning without any perspective,' the Russian premier said. Overall, the Socialist system back then was 'not competitive' with the freedom offered in the West.

Putin also praised German leaders in the wake of reunification. He said former chancellor Helmut Kohl had made 'a deep impression' on him and said how Kohl was convinced that without good ties with Russia, Europe would have no future.

He called Kohl's successor, Gerhard Schroeder, a 'personal friend' while saying he had a 'very good relationship' with current Chancellor Angela Merkel.