'Stole A Missile From The Germans On A Handcart': Absurd Operation From Putin's Spy Days

Last Updated:December 04, 2025, 13:41 IST

Putin himself was not involved in this mission, but his formative years as a KGB spy underscore the culture of audacity that once defined the Soviet spy network he served

The men loaded the hefty missile, nearly nine feet long, onto a handcart and, pushing it across the runway like an oversized piece of lumber. (AI-Generated Image for Representation)

In an episode that reads less like a chapter from the Cold War and more like the script of a dark comedy, newly resurfaced accounts suggest that long before Russian President Vladimir Putin emerged on the global stage, the Soviet Union’s intelligence machinery, the KGB, pulled off one of its most bizarre operations which was the theft of an American missile using nothing more sophisticated than a handcart and a Mercedes sedan.

Putin himself was not involved in this mission, but his formative years in the KGB underscore the culture of audacity that once defined the Soviet spy network he served. Far from being a career politician or a member of a political dynasty, he entered public life straight from the shadows of Russian intelligence.

According to reporting by the Canada-based Eurasian Times, the caper unfolded on October 22, 1967, at the height of Cold War hostilities, when the United States and Russia were locked in a silent and relentless contest for military supremacy. Soviet intelligence had long been attempting to acquire Western weaponry and technological secrets. On this particular night, its operatives set their sights on the AIM-9 Sidewinder, a highly prized infrared homing air-to-air missile used by the US and its NATO allies.

The theft was executed not by Soviet officers alone but by a trio of disgruntled civilians in West Germany namely, Manfred Ramminger, a German architect; Joseph Linowski, a Polish driver; and Wolf-Diethard Knoppe, a German military pilot with access to the Neuburg Air Base.

Taking advantage of a dense, blinding fog, Knoppe allegedly used his legitimate security pass to usher the group into the base under the cover of the night. Once inside, the men located an operational Sidewinder missile stored in the ammunition depot.

What followed seemed almost unbelievable given the geopolitical stakes. The men loaded the hefty missile, nearly nine feet long, onto a handcart and, pushing it across the runway like an oversized piece of lumber, quietly wheeled it out of the facility. The fog shielded their movements and not a single guard raised an alarm.

Waiting outside the base was Ramminger’s Mercedes sedan, which quickly became central to the absurdity of the operation. The missile was too large to fit inside the car. Undeterred, the men smashed the car’s windows and slid the projectile in, allowing its tail to protrude through the broken glass.

To mask the odd spectacle, they draped the exposed section with a cloth. Since German road rules required oversized objects to be marked, they tied a red rag to the end, a surreal image of a stolen American missile rumbling down public roads, disguised with nothing more than a piece of fabric fluttering in the wind.

Ramminger then transported the missile to his home, where he reportedly dismantled it carefully. The parts were boxed and shipped to Russia, completing one of the most audacious espionage heists of the era.

The episode underscores the unconventional, often cinematic methods employed by Cold War operatives. It also offers a glimpse into the milieu that shaped Vladimir Putin, whose rise from a KGB spy to the presidency remains one of the most consequential political journeys of the modern era.

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