Defection of a Russian Spy
The key to this mystery proved to be a 36-year-old Lieutenant Colonel
of the Soviet State Security Service (KGB). Early in May, 1957, he
telephoned the United States Embassy in Paris and subsequently arrived
at the Embassy to be interviewed. To an Embassy official, the Russian
espionage agent explained, "I'm an officer in the Soviet intelligence
service. For the past five years, I have been operating in the United
States. Now I need your help."
This spy, Reino Hayhanen, stated that he had just been ordered to
return to Moscow. After five years in the United States, he dreaded
the thought of going back to his communist-ruled homeland. He wanted
to defect -- to desert the Soviet camp.
Hayhanen was born near Leningrad on May 14, 1920. His parents were
peasants. Despite his modest background, Hayhanen was an honor student
and, in 1939, obtained the equivalent of a certificate to teach high
school.
In September, 1939, Hayhanen was appointed to the primary school
faculty in the Village of Lipitzi. Two months later, however, he was
conscripted by the Communists' secret police, the NKVD. Since he had
studied the Finnish language and was very proficient in its use,
Hayhanen was assigned as an interpreter to an NKVD group and sent to
the combat zone to translate captured documents and interrogate
prisoners during the Finnish-Soviet war.
With the end of this war in 1940, Hayhanen was assigned to check the
loyalty and reliability of Soviet workers in Finland and to develop
informants and sources of information in their midst. His primary
objective was to identify anti-Soviet elements among the
intelligentsia.
Hayhanen became a respected expert in Finnish intelligence matters and
in May, 1943, was accepted into membership in the Soviet Communist
Party. Following World War II, he rose to the rank of senior operative
authorized representative of the Segozerski district section of the
NKGB and, with headquarters in the Village of Padani, set about the
task of identifying dissident elements among the local citizens.
In the summer of 1948, Hayhanen was called to Moscow by the KGB. The
Soviet intelligence service had a new assignment for Hayhanen -- one
which would require him to sever relations with his family, to study
the English language, and to receive special training in photographing
documents, as well as to encode and decode messages.
While his KGB training continued, Hayhanen worked as a mechanic in the
City of Valga, Estonia. Then, in the summer of 1949, he entered
Finland as Eugene Nicolai Maki, an American-born laborer.
Background of the Real Maki
The real Eugene Nicolai Maki was born in Enaville, Idaho, on May 30,
1919. His mother also was American born, but his father had immigrated
to the United States from Finland in 1905. In the mid-1920s, Eugene
Maki's parents became deeply impressed by glowing reports of
conditions in "the new" Russia. They sold their belongings and left
their Idaho farm for New York to book passage on a ship to Europe.
After leaving the United States, the Maki family settled in Estonia.
From the outset, it was obvious that they had found no "Utopia" on the
border of the Soviet Union. Letters which they wrote to their former
neighbors showed that Mr. and Mrs. Maki were very unhappy and sorely
missed America.
As the years passed, memories of the Maki family gradually began to
fade, and all but possibly two or three old time residents of Enaville,
Idaho, forgot that there has ever been a Maki family in that area. In
Moscow, however, plans were being made for a "new" Eugene Maki, one
thoroughly grounded in Soviet intelligence techniques, to enter the
scene.
Hayhanen Becomes Maki
From July, 1949, to October, 1952, Hayhanen resided in Finland and
established his identity as the American-born Eugene Maki. During this
period, he was most cautious to avoid suspicion or attracting
attention to himself -- his Soviet superiors wanting him to become
established as an ordinary, hard-working citizen. This false "build
up," of course, was merely part of Hayhanen's preparation for a new
espionage assignment.
While in Finland, Hayhanen met and married Hanna Kurikka. She was to
join him in the United States on February 20, 1953 -- four months
after his arrival here. Even his wife knew him only as Eugene Maki, so
carefully did he cover his previous life.
On July 3, 1951, Hayhanen -- then living in Turku, Finland -- visited
the United States Legation in Helsinki. He displayed a birth
certificate from the State of Idaho which showed that he was born in
Enaville on May 30, 1919, and, in the presence of a Vice Consul, he
executed an affidavit in which he explained that his family had left
the United States in 1928:
"I
accompanied my mother to Estonia when I
was eight years of age and resided with her
until her death in 1941. I left Estonia for
Finland in June, 1943, and have resided here for
the reason that I have no funds with
which to pay my transportation to the
United States."
One year later
-- July 28, 1952 -- a passport was issued to Hayhanen as Eugene Maki
at Helsinki. Using this passport, he sailed October 16, 1952, from
Southhampton, England, aboard the Queen Mary and arrived at New York
City on October 21, 1952.
Several weeks before he departed for America, Hayhanen was recalled to
Moscow and introduced to a Soviet agent, "Mikhail," who was to serve
as his espionage superior in this country. In order to establish
contact with "Mikhail" in the United States, Hayhanen was instructed
that after arriving in New York he should go to the Tavern on the
Green in Central Park. Near the tavern, he was told, he would find a
signpost marked "Horse Carts"
"You will let Mikhail know of your arrival by placing a red thumb tack
in this signpost," a Soviet official told him. "If you suspect that
you are under surveillance, place a white thumb tack on the board."
Hayhanen Returns to the United States
The information which Hayhanen furnished to U.S. officials in Paris,
France, in May, 1957, was immediately checked. There could be no
question of its accuracy. Accordingly, passage was secured for
Hayhanen on an airliner, and he was permitted to return to the United
States.
Following his arrival in New York on May 10, 1957, Hayhanen was given
a thorough physical examination, suitable quarters were found for him,
and arrangements were made for him to be interviewed by FBI Agents.
From the fall of 1952 until early in 1954, he said, "Mikhail" served
as his espionage superior in New York. They met only when necessary --
the meeting place being the Prospect Park subway station. To exchange
messages and intelligence data, they used "dead drops" --
inconspicuous hiding places -- in the New York area. One of these
"dead drops" was an iron picket fence at the end of 7th Avenue near
Macombs bridge. Another was the base of a lamp post in Fort Tryon
Park.
In one of the "dead drops" mentioned by Hayhanen -- a hole in a set of
cement steps in Prospect Park -- FBI Agents found a hollowed-out bolt.
The bolt was about two inches long and one-fourth inch in diameter. It
contained the following typewritten message:
"Nobody
came to meeting either 8 or 9th...as
I was advised he should. Why? Should he be
inside or outside? Is time wrong? Place
seems right. Please check."
The bolt was
found on May 15, 1957. It had been placed in the "dead drop" about two
years previously, but, by a trick of fate, a repair crew had filled
the hole in the stairs with cement, entombing the bolt and the message
it contained.
Questioned about the hollow bolt, Hayhanen said that "trick"
containers such as this were often used by the espionage apparatus
which he served. Among the items he had been supplied by the Soviets
were hollow pens, pencils, screws, batteries, and coins -- in some
instances magnetized so they would adhere to metal object.
