Finland Times

 

The Secretary-General of Parliament Seppo Tiitinen. Photo – Lehtikuva.

The Communist Party of Finland (Suomen Kommunistinen Puolue-SKP) received financial assistance during the Cold War from eastern businessmen or the so-called “red mountain counsellors,” revealed Seppo Tiitinen, a former head of the Finnish Security Intelligence Service (Supo), to the national broadcaster YLE on Saturday.

 

Tiitinen is now serving as the secretary general to parliament. 

 

According to him, businessmen in trade projects with the Soviet Union acted as intermediaries for the Communist Party to receive financial support from Moscow. 

 

He explained that Finnish politicians and businessmen tried to use KGB to gain Moscow’s favour.

 

“For just a little in return, they were able to obtain preferential treatment,” Tiitinen said, shedding light on the racing of Finnish businessmen for trade with the East.

 

Supo knew very well, according to Tiitinen, that some top leaders acted as intermediaries for money between the Kremlin and the Communist Party. 

 

The communists received plenty of support from Moscow, and one of the financing routes was the eastern trade organisation.

 

Tiitinen even had to hold a speech to restore discipline, according to YLE, to the eastern trade businessmen elite in the 1980s, when it seemed that cooperation between them and KGB had become unhealthy. 

 

Tiitinen held the speech because the then president Mauno Koivisto asked him to.

 

According to Tiitinen, the businessmen humbly listened to Supo explaining the rules of the game, who, along with the Soviet agents, complied.