After the decisive loss of the Battle of Vyborg in late April, many fled to Soviet Russia.

After the Battle of Kimasozero in January 1922, Vähä killed three captured Finnish White Guard soldiers on the orders of his platoon leader Toivo Antikainen.

He was recruited by Finnish Army Intelligence, who mistook Vähä for an ordinary Soviet border guard.

In reality he was working under the command of the Polish revolutionary Stanisław Messing, the head of the Leningrad Cheka.

[2][4] In September 1925 the Cheka managed to lure the British agent Sidney Reilly into crossing the border.

The Finns had successfully tested the route just a few days earlier, when Vähä escorted the courier of the White general Alexander Kutepov to the Soviet side.

Vähä then served on the Chinese border in the Argun River area, and fought in the 1929 Sino-Soviet conflict.

He had kept his real identity secret, but as Stalin launched the campaign against ″nationalists″, Vähä's Finnish accent attracted attention.

Unfortunately he had close relations with the Army Commander Ieronim Uborevich, who was executed during the Case of Trotskyist Anti-Soviet Military Organization.

[2] In November 1939 Vähä was given a chance to join the army of the Finnish Democratic Republic, a puppet government created during the 1939–1940 Winter War.

After the war, he was named as commander of the Red Army Infantry Regiment 126, which was composed of Karelians, Ingrians and Finns.

As Nazi Germany launched its campaign against the Soviet Union in June 1941 he was replaced by another Finnish-born officer, Valter Valli.

He also wrote three other memoirs, including one on Operation Trust, and several short stories that were published in the Finnish-language Karelian literature magazine Punalippu.