Edna Patterson

Francia Yakovlevna Mitinen, originally Frances Metianen, and also known, erroneously, as "Francia Yakilnilna Mitynen" (born 31 January 1914, date of death unknown) was an Australian-born Soviet "illegal" spy for Soviet military intelligence (GRU) in the United States during the 1940s and 1950s. The main alias used by Mitinen in the US was Edna Margaret Patterson. Her codenames, in Soviet intelligence circles included "Салли" "Sally", and "Австралийка" "Avstraliyka", which (literally translated) is the feminine form of "(The) Australian". US counterintelligence services, however, usually translated the latter name as "The Australian Woman".

Mitinen was born at 85½ Morehead Street, Redfern, an inner suburb of Sydney, on 31 January 1914, according to a 2017 article by Australian historian and journalist Michael Connor.

During the 1920s, the family apparently lived in the Parramatta area, where Frances attended Parramatta High School and the Metianen children took part in local sports teams, including Frances' brother Victor, who was frequently mentioned in newspaper reports regarding amateur cricket matches. under the name of Edna Margaret Patterson (and a cover story that included growing up in Seattle). US counterintelligence services, as a result of the Venona signals interception and decryption project, became aware of some of the activities of "Sally" or the "Australian Woman", if not her cover name and whereabouts. Mitinen was apparently last mentioned in Venona intercepts during 1956. It is generally believed that she left the US (or disappeared) at around that time. Nothing is known of her subsequent life.