Editing Stasi (section)

==Relationship with Soviet Intelligence Services==
{{see also|Eastern Bloc politics|Eastern Bloc information dissemination|Active measures}}
[[image:Putin-Stasi-Ausweis.png|thumb|right|The Stasi identity card of [[Vladimir Putin]], who worked in [[Dresden]] as a KGB liaison officer to the Stasi<ref name="BBC News">{{cite news |title=Putin's Stasi spy ID pass found in Germany |work=BBC News |date=11 December 2018 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-46525543 |access-date=8 April 2023 |archive-date=24 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220324084844/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-46525543 |url-status=live }}</ref>]]

Although Mielke's Stasi was superficially granted independence in 1957, the [[KGB]] continued to maintain liaison officers in all eight main Stasi directorates at the Stasi headquarters and in each of the fifteen district headquarters around the [[East Germany|GDR]]. The Stasi had also been invited by the KGB to establish operational bases in [[Moscow]] and [[Leningrad]] to monitor visiting East German tourists. Due to their close ties with Soviet intelligence services, Mielke referred to the Stasi officers as "[[Cheka|Chekists]]". The KGB used 'low-visibility harassment'<ref>{{cite book |last1=Guriev, Sergei; Treisman, Daniel |title=Spin Dictators: The Changing Face of Tyranny in the 21st Century |date=4 April 2023 |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton |isbn=978-0691224473 |page=49}}</ref> in order to control the population, and repress politically incorrect people and dissidents. This could involve causing unemployment, social isolation, and inducing mental and emotional health problems. Such methods formed the basis of the Stasi's use of ''Zersetzung'' (trans. decomposition) which has been considered to be a perfected version.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Guriev, Sergei; Treisman, Daniel |title=Spin Dictators: The Changing Face of Tyranny in the 21st Century |date=4 April 2023 |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton |isbn=978-0691224473 |pages=49–51}}</ref> 
In 1978, Mielke formally granted KGB officers in East Germany the same rights and powers that they enjoyed in the Soviet Union.<ref name="koehler74">{{Harvnb|Koehler|2000|p=74}}</ref> The [[British Broadcasting Corporation]] noted that KGB officer (and future [[President of Russia|Russian President]]) [[Vladimir Putin]] worked in Dresden, from 1985 to 1989, as a liaison officer to the Stasi from the KGB.<ref name="BBC News"/> [[Kremlin]] spokesperson [[Dmitry Peskov]] responded to the reports by stating that 'The KGB and the Stasi were partner intelligence agencies'.<ref name="BBC News"/>