In 1974 Warnig started his career at the
Stasi, the secret police of communist East Germany, and entered its
foreign intelligence (HVA) on April 1, 1975. In September 1977, he began his studies in economics at the
Berlin University of Economics, which is also known as the
Bruno Leuschner School of Economics, and graduated with a degree in economics in 1981. Warnig allegedly worked with
KGB officer
Vladimir Putin. The two men collaborated on recruiting
West German citizens for the KGB. Warnig, however, has denied this by saying that they met for the first time in 1991, when Putin was the head of the Committee for External Relations of the
Saint Petersburg Mayor's Office. In the late 1970s, Warnig received five years of training on how to infiltrate banks in
West Germany. Warnig was in
West Germany to gain "economic enlightenment" from such companies as BASF, Rheinbraun,
Data Becker, Thyssen, Krupp, and Deutsche Bank.
After German reunification After the
fall of Communism he resigned as a major from the Stasi in 1989. Dresdner Bank attempted to get a banking operating license in
Saint Petersburg, where Putin was now in charge of foreign economic relations. Warnig took part in negotiations. The office was opened in 1991. Warnig became chairman of the Board of Directors of Dresdner Bank ZAO, Dresdner Bank Russian's subsidiary. In 2004–05, the bank advised on the controversial forced sale of
Yukos assets (see
Yukos shareholders v. Russia). From 2015 until July 2023 he was CEO of Nord Stream 2 AG. As of 2014, Warnig was on the board of directors of
Bank Rossiya which is often referred to as "Putin's Wallet". During violent gang wars involving the
Tambov Gang while it was taking control of St. Petersburg's energy trade in the 1990s, Vladimir Putin, fearing for the safety of his daughters
Maria Vorontsova and
Katerina Tikhonova, sent them to Germany, where Warnig served as their legal guardian. From 2012, Warnig led the supervisory board of the Russian aluminum company
Rusal but was forced to resign in 2018, when the
first Trump administration imposed sanctions on Rusal.
Sanctions Warnig was from 2006 until May 2016 Sanctions were reimposed on him on February 23, 2022, in response to the
2021–2022 Russo-Ukrainian crisis and the
Russian invasion of Ukraine. Warnig was managing director of Nord Stream 2 AG since the company was established in 2006 until July 2023. ==Personal life==