Has Putin ever killed someone himself? Here’s what we know

The Russian President has countless lives on his conscience, but has he ever pulled the trigger himself?

The Russian Butcher

Regardless of whether we are talking about Russian or Ukranian lives, there’s no debating that Vladimir Putin is not a man comitted to saving human beings.

More than a million troops lost

Intelligence suggest that Russia has lost more than a million troops in the war in Ukraine.

Add to that the numerous reports of Russian privates and prisoners being used as cannon fodder to diminish the Ukrainian munition supplies.

Targeting civilians

Furthermore, the near daily Russian drone and missile attacks on Ukraine are claiming civilian lives every day – even though Russia continues to claim the attacks are aimed at military targets.

One big question remains

So now that we’ve established that, there’s a big question that seems to be overlooked:

Has Putin ever actually killed someone himself?

Here’s what we know

Putin joined the Russian intelligence service, KGB, in 1975 after studying law in Leningrad.

He initially worked in counterintelligence, spending his time monitoring foreign nationals and consular staff.

The move to East Germany

After a decade of this, Putin was reassigned to Dresden in the former East Germany.

Here he worked as an undercover KGB agent at a Soviet cultural center.

What he was really doing

While undercover, his real objective was to gather intelligence, recruiting informants and monitoring West Germany and NATO.

So far in his KGB career, nothing points to Putin taking any lives.

Office surrounded

When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, the KGB office in Dresden was surrounded.

Reports are that Putin valled for help from the Soviet military, but the response was that tyey could not do anything without direct orders from Moscow.

Returning to Russia

Putin returned to Russia in 1990, retired from KGB in 1991 and almost immediatly turned to politics.

So there’s no evidence that Putin ever killed anyone during his time in the KGB.

But what about his rise to power?

There’s countless stories of people rising to power by killing their opponents, but Putin has never been directly tied to any deaths of political opponents.

That being said, there are some remarkable links to prominent assassinations and assassination attempts during Putin’s time in power.

Alexander Litvinenko

A former FSB agent poisoned with polonium-210 in London in 2006.

A UK inquiry concluded that the killing was “probably approved” by Putin.

Boris Nemtsov

An opposition leader shot near the Kremlin in 2015.

Sergei Skripal

A former double agent, poisoned in Salisbury, UK, in 2018 with a nerve agent.

Strong links, but no proof

While these incidents are widely believed to be linked to the Russian state, none prove direct personal involvement by Putin himself.

Most likely gives the orders

Western intelligence and investigative journalism suggest he likely authorizes or is aware of such operations — but there’s no public proof of him physically carrying out a killing.