Putin wishes his former KGB boss happy birthday

Putin’s old comrades are doing well under his presidency

Vladimir Putin, along with former KGB colleagues (Komitet Gosudarstvennoi Bezopanosti was the main security agency for the Soviet Union from 1954 until its break-up in 1991), have gathered together to celebrate the birthday of their former boss in the Soviet secret service.

Lazar Matveyev, who was the head of the KGB residency in Dresden in the 1980s, turned 90 today. Junior spies on his staff included Putin.



On Monday morning, two former spies, Sergey Chemezov and Nikolai Tokarev, along with Putin visited Matveyev at his home in Zhulebino.

“Mr Putin gave Mr Matveyev a presidential watch and a copy of Pravda published on the day he was born in 1927,” said The Kremlin.

After joining the KGB in 1975, Putin served at the KGB’s residency in Dresden, East Germany, from 1985 to 1990.



When the Soviet Union collapsed, he retired from the agency at the rank of lieutenant colonel.

Putin’s old comrades have done well under his presidency. Rostec, a state-owned conglomerate is headed by Chemezov and Tokarev runs Transneft, the state owned oil pipeline monopoly.

This article originally appeared on The Telegraph