Did the Russians spike Kekkonen's drink?
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By Teemu Luukka
I recently received a startling e-mail. It contained an extract from a book published in the United States in 2000, according to which the Russians had used something called a "friendship drug" on Finnish President Urho Kekkonen and the leadership of the Finnish Communist Party.
The book was written by Joseph D. Douglass, who has a doctorate from the renowned Cornell University, and who has studied the use of drugs in international politics for several decades. The extract was from the book Betrayed, on how various medications and drugs were used to influence prisoners of war.
The book tells about how governments in various countries - especially the Soviet Union - became interested in synthetic drugs in the 1950s. The Russians tested drugs which undermine will power on clergy and others considered suspect by the Soviet system.
the drugs were placed in people's drinks, and apparently were administered in such a way that the victims could not recognise the effect of the substance. The goal was to get the victims to agree with the Russians after a few days.
The allegations are quite astounding, but are they true?
First we must ask Finnish experts about the matter. One expert on the history of the communists, Kimmo Rentola, says that he has never heard that the Russians would have given Kekkonen anything stronger than vodka. Timo Vihavainen, a professor of Russian studies, also says that he knows nothing of any such activities.
But what about Kekkonen's biographer Juhani Suomi, who knows more about Kekkonen's activities than anyone else in Finland? He has also never heard that Kekkonen would have been under the influence of the friendship drug.
"It would certainly have been noticed. In negotiations there was always someone there who was sober, and a doctor would have noticed in the morning at the latest if Kekkonen was behaving in an exceptional manner", Suomi insists.
But what does Dr. Douglass base his claim on? On the basis of biographical data, the man would seem worthy of being taken seriously. He has a long history in research institutes studying security matters, as well as a career in the US Defence Department.
The book does not actually say when the Russians might have slipped Kekkonen a Mickey.
The former Finnish President is mentioned in a part of the book explaining how seminars would often be held in Czechoslovakia, where participants would unwittingly consume the friendship drug during breakfast. The book does not actually claim that Kekkonen would have been drugged specifically in Czechoslovakia. Kekkonen paid a state visit to Czechoslovakia only once, on October 1st - 4th, 1969.
All I can do is to ask Dr. Douglass himself.
"Sorry I can not provide additional details. You are most unlikely to obtain any 'documents' because of their sensitivity and because such materials would be written in code language and be very obscure to anyone who did not know what the words meant", Douglass wrote in an e-mail.
He says that he heard about Kekkonen being drugged from Jan Sejna. "Jan Sejna died in 1997 before I could learn more details about this operation", Douglass wrote.
"What he said is what I wrote. He did mention Kekkonen as one of the targets, as I recall, and I believe he was talking about the early 50s or thereabouts."
Jan Sejna was a famous man. He was a major-general, and served for a long time as a member of the Central Committee of Czechoslovakia's Communist Party. He also led Czechoslovakia's Ministry of defence.
Shortly before his death Sejna admitted in the US Senate that he smuggled 200 American prisoners of war from Vietnam to the Soviet Union, and that the Soviet Union used drugs on the American POWs.
He defected from Czechoslovakia to the United States in 1968. He is one of the highest-ranking communist leaders ever to escape to the west.
After his defection, the communists claimed that he was a drug dealer.
Sejna's information has been used by various people, including former Soviet expert, the present US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice.
Not everyone in Finland likes Sejna. In his memoirs, he described how Soviet Defence Minister Andrei Grechenko had said during a meeting that Finland had promised to put its transport facilities at the disposal of the Soviet Union if war breaks out between the Warsaw Pact and NATO.
It has not been possible to verify that claim either.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 26.3.2005
TEEMU LUUKKA / Helsingin Sanomat
teemu.luukka@hs.fi
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| 30.3.2005 - THIS WEEK |
 Did the Russians spike Kekkonen's drink? |
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