A secretive man, especially about his private life, Vladimir Putin has cleaned up to present an official story about his youth. In 2000, shortly before his election as head of the Russian Federation, the current Russian president granted interview with the Swiss newspaper Le Temps and looked back on his career and his entry into the Soviet secret services, the famous KGB, which he says he joined in 1975.
“I had very seriously considered going into aviation. But a year and a half before the baccalaureate, I found my vocation, he explained then. I went to observe the headquarters of the KGB, and, even better, I presented to the reception of the Management. A man received me. He listened to me without interrupting me, then said to me: “I will explain to you how it goes. We never take spontaneous applications, and we only recruit after military service or higher education.” I asked him what studies. “Doesn’t matter.” No preference? “Law.” Understood. I entered. at the Leningrad Law School.