The only position in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, which can be held not by a military man, but by a civilian, is the Supreme Commander. Indeed, under the Constitution of Russia, he is the president of the state, which you can become without even having been in the army. Forced military service, for example, the current president and Supreme Commander of the Russian Federation, retired state security colonel Vladimir Putin.
Where to serve?
Speaking about his attitude to the Armed Forces, Russian President Vladimir Putin always emphasizes that he was born and raised in a war veteran family. And therefore, simply cannot disrespect the army of his country, not to help it in all possible ways. In an interview, Putin admits that he, like many boys, dreamed of becoming a soldier since childhood, mentally trying on the epaulettes of either a pilot or a sailor. He stopped, in the end, on the career of a scout.
Soldiers of military service at one time were several well-known Russian politicians and senior officials of the country. Among them are Gennady Zyuganov, Mikhail Kasyanov, Dmitry Kozak, Sergey Mironov, Vladislav Surkov, Igor Shuvalov.
For the sake of making dreams come true, yesterday’s student was not afraid to even come to the reception room of the Leningrad KGB Directorate and take an interest in the opportunity to get into the state security organs. But he received the answer that before this you need to serve in the Soviet army for at least two years. Another possible option for a 17-year-old boy was to enter a university with a military department, which trains lawyers or other specialists in demand on the State Security Committee.
From university to school
The future head of this department made a simple choice proposed by the KGB officer in favor of studying. In 1970, Vladimir entered the law faculty of Leningrad University. Five years later, the young lawyer was admitted to the secretariat of the local KGB Directorate, becoming a lieutenant in state security. Which, in principle, can be considered the beginning of active military service.
A university graduate worked in state security for 15 years. Having managed to graduate from the Higher School of the State Security Committee of the country in Moscow during this time and to learn in practice the difficulties of working in counterintelligence and intelligence. Including in the most secret unit - the SVR, the Foreign Intelligence Service, which worked outside the Soviet Union, around the world.
Putin and Dresden
Finding himself, as he had dreamed in childhood, a professional intelligence officer, Vladimir Putin continued his military education. After graduating from the Red Banner Institute named after one of his predecessors as head of the KGB, Yuri Andropov, he, as a German who knows the German language, got a direction in the GDR in 1985. The new place of activity of Vladimir Putin was the so-called intelligence point located in Dresden.
In the German Democratic Republic, Soviet counterintelligence officer Vladimir Putin was twice promoted. What was considered in such a serious organization as the USSR State Security Committee as an analogue of the "excellent" rating.
Over the five years spent in East Germany, Putin’s counterintelligence proved himself so good that he received the rank of lieutenant colonel, the position of deputy chief of department, and was also awarded the military medal "For Outstanding Service to the National People's Army of the GDR." The next "service" round of the career of officer Putin began already in Russian times.
