PRESIDENT Putin returns to his old haunts from when he was a KGB spy in Germany today amid concern across Europe that the iron fist is making a comeback in Russia.

The murder of the journalist Anna Politkovskaya and a showdown with Georgia have put Russia’s democratic credentials under the spotlight, undermining the confident modern image crafted by Mr Putin at the G8 summit in St Petersburg three months ago.

Awaiting him in Dresden, where he tried to recruit moles for the Soviet secret service, will be stern words about human rights from the German Chancellor. Human rights groups in Moscow are looking to Angela Merkel to get tough with the Russian leader, particularly over the treatment of Georgians.

The Georgian Orthodox Church in Moscow complained yesterday that people entering St George Cathedral for a funeral were subjected to identity checks. Police have ordered schools in Moscow to provide lists of pupils with Georgian surnames so that the immigration status of their parents can be checked. Hundreds have been deported and Georgian-owned businesses have been closed.

Ludmilla Alekseeva, chairman of the Moscow Helsinki Group, told The Times: “It is very important for her to raise questions about the persecution of Georgians in Russia. It is logical for Germany to raise this issue, because they have historical experience.”

She added: “We don’t have a democracy, we have a ruined democracy. Mr Putin says many good things about democracy, but the way he and his administration act is against democracy, unfortunately.”

Russia has severed all air, sea, road and rail links with its former Soviet satellite and banned new visas for Georgians. The dispute flared after Georgia arrested — then released — four Russian servicemen for alleged espionage.

Forty-eight hours after Ms Politkovskaya’s death, Mr Putin broke the Kremlin’s silence over the killing yesterday in a telephone call assuring President Bush that everything possible would be done to track down the culprit. Ms Politkovskaya, 48, was shot dead in a lift outside her flat on Saturday, Mr Putin’s 54th birthday. She was his fiercest critic and one of a dwindling band of journalists prepared openly to criticise him, particularly over the war in Chechnya.

Her murder is stoking a debate within the German Establishment about how to handle Mr Putin. The Government is split down the middle. The junior partner, the Social Democrats, want Russia to be brought more closely into the European fold and each political murder or human rights infringement is used to support their case. The Christian Democrats — led by Frau Merkel who grew up in communist East Germany — are more sceptical. Many believe that Mr Putin remains at heart a KGB man, wedded to the idea that the power of the State will always take precedence over the rights of the individual.

With Germany about to take over the EU and G8 presidency, the cracks in government could be exploited by Mr Putin, who will try to win over the Germans in the same way that his predecessors Boris Yeltsin and Mikhail Gorbachev stirred popular enthusiasm.

This time the President’s gift to Germany is tailored to a country still hanging on to World Cup fever: Gazprom, the Russian energy giant, has agreed to rescue FC Schalke 04, a heavily indebted Dortmund football club.

The gesture is unlikely, however, to revive with Frau Merkel the charmed relationship that Mr Putin enjoyed with her predecessor. Gerhard Schröder called Mr Putin a “flawless democrat” and after losing power, was made head of a Russian-German energy consortium. Mr Putin helped his German friend to adopt two Russian orphans and flew in a Cossack choir to sing at Herr Schrö der’s birthday party.

Frau Merkel clearly believes that she cannot justify such intimacy: she sent only a crisp congratulatory message for Mr Putin’s birthday.

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