Encyclopedia of Soviet Spymasters This Day in Espionage: Soviet superspy Rudolf Abel arrested by FBI 21 June 1957

The ultimate Soviet super spy team many honored by postage stamps were the over fifty main frontline agents in several countries who recruited, collected, cajoled or were simply offered valuable atomic secrets when the Western powers had their guard down during and after the faux bonhomee of the Second World War that culminated in the arrest of Colonel Rudolf Ivanovich Abel 21 June 1957.

United Kingdom born Soviet descent KGB illegal 1946-57 Rudolf Ivanovich Abel or William August Fisher or Andrew Kayotis or Emil Robert Goldfus or Martin Collins or Robert Callan or Vasili Dzogol codename Mark arrested by FBI in New York for espionage in passing atomic secrets from the Los Alamos Manhattan Project to the Soviet Union using various couriers.

Just prior to Abel arrest the Ottawa KGB Rezident sought to procure two new passports for Abel in the names of Robert Callan and Vasili Dzogol but Abel was arrested before he could adopt his new identity and leave the United States.

Soviet MGB illegal Reino Hayhanen or Eugene Nikolai Moki became Abel’s deputy but later defected to the CIA at the US Embassy Paris May 1957 after being recalled to Moscow for misbehavior. FBI surveillance led to arrest of Abel and a search discovered various implements of espionage and large sums of cash. Abel was convicted and sentenced November 1957 to 30 years imprisonment. He was later exchanged in 1962 for captured U-2 spy plane pilot Francis Gary Powers.

Reino Hayhanen testified 13 February 1958 against US Embassy Moscow 1951-53 garage Master Sergeant Roy A. Rhodes codename Quebec that Soviets paid $3,000 for information. Hayhanen and Abel had been directed to contact Rhodes in the USA. Rhodes sentenced 5 years imprisonment 25 February 1958. Hayhanen died in car accident in the USA in 1961.

Biography

Peter Polack is a former criminal lawyer in the Cayman Islands for several decades. His books are The Last Hot Battle of the Cold War: South Africa vs. Cuba in the Angolan Civil War (2013), Jamaica, The Land of Film (2017) and Guerrilla Warfare: Kings of Revolution (2019). He was a contributor to Encyclopedia of Warfare (2013). Polack worked as a part-time reporter for Reuters News Agency in the Cayman Islands 2014-16. His article Syria: The Evolution Revolution was published in the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center magazine June 2014. In October 2018 Defence Procurement International published an article on the Guerrilla Warfare book entitled What Do Today’s Jihadists Have In Common With Famous Guerrilla Fighters Of The Past? The Defence Procurement International Winter 2018 magazine featured his article Brief History of MRAP vehicles. In September 2019 an excerpt from the George Washington chapter of Guerrilla Warfare Kings of Revolution was published in the American Intelligence Journal, Vol 36, No.1. His most recent article Soviet Spymasters: The limits of democracy and Navalny was published in Foreign Policy News 7 March 2021. In July 2020 McFarland publishers acquired his latest book entitled Encyclopedia of Soviet Spymasters to be published in 2021. The Encyclopedia is a compendium of Russian espionage activities with nearly five hundred Soviet spies expelled from nearly 100 countries worldwide. In April 2021 UK publisher Lime Tree Press acquired the rights to Only the Young Shall Die by Peter Polack and Jack McCain about raising the age of military enlistment. He is currently doing research on a curated collection entitled War In Pictures of almost 1,000 images throughout several conflicts over many centuries.