Thesis says Security Police protected President Kekkonen without his knowledge
Brezhnev nursed grudge against Kekkonen for years
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A new doctoral thesis claims that Finland's Security Police (SUPO) worked secretly to protect President Urho Kekkonen against espionage and possible assassination attempts.
The Turku-based newspaper Turun Sanomat reports that the thesis by Kekkonen's former aide-de-camp Esa Seppänen says that SUPO would regularly sweep the structures of the Presidential Palace, and the President's residence in Tamminiemi for hidden microphones, as well as the President's car and those of visitors, and even gifts that were given to the President.
Kekkonen's staff kept the President in the dark about the activities, out of fear that he would order them not to do it.
Seppänen says that the President's staff knew for certain that Soviet envoys who had visited Tamminiemi had brought hidden radio transmitters with them.
The main topic of the thesis, which focuses on the psychological aspects of the President, is the relationship that Kekkonen had with leaders of the Soviet Union in the years after the downfall of Nikita Khrushchev. The study reveals that Leonid Brezhnev, who led the Soviet Union from 1964 to 1982, had a deep dislike for Kekkonen well before taking power in Moscow, and that he nursed a grudge against the Finnish President for many years after taking office.
The two got off on the wrong foot when they first met in November 1960. At the time, Kekkonen was visiting Moscow as a friend of Khrushchev, when Brezhnev held the post of President of the Soviet Union, which is largely ceremonial. When the two were spending the evening at the Bolshoi Theatre, Kekkonen asked Brezhnev if he writes his speeches himself, or if someone else does it for him.
The seemingly innocent question hit a sore spot; Brezhnev was barely literate, and completely dependent on his aides in other respects as well.
The head of the speechwriting team, Fyodor Brulatski said later that it was "the most horrifying question possible".
Seppänen said that Max Jakobson, who took part in the discussions, said that alcohol played a "fairly large part" in the events.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 20.4.2007 - TODAY |
 Thesis says Security Police protected President Kekkonen without his knowledge |
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