List of KGB defectors

Aleksei Myagkov in 1977

During the Soviet era, hundreds of intelligence and state security officers defected to a foreign power. Their motivations varied, from fear of arrest, to dissatisfaction with the tasks assigned to them, to a change of heart about the regime they served.[1]

While there were defections in the other direction too, the number from the Soviet Union and Soviet Bloc was significantly greater. This was particularly true of intelligence and state security personnel.[2]

To defect, a Soviet officer needed to make contact with a foreign power. A Soviet officer had three ways to do that. 1) A defector could approach a foreign power while already outside the Soviet Union on official business, like diplomatic cover. 2) A defector could cross a border to a country neighboring the Soviet Union and request asylum. 3) Unique to World War II, when a foreign power—German troops—occupied large portions of Soviet territory, a defector could approach a foreign power that came to him or her.[3]

Many Soviet intelligence and state security defectors are relatively obscure. Before World War II, Soviet officers often were discussed only in Europe-based Russian émigré newspapers.[4] In the immediate aftermath of World War II, the United States and United Kingdom, which were the primary recipients of Soviet intelligence and state security officer defectors, did not publicize defections as broadly.[5]

After Stalin’s death in 1953, intelligence and state security officer defectors became more prominent and were offered public forums, such as press conferences and publication venues to reveal their stories.[6] That resulted in prominent defectors like Nikolay Khokhlov, Petr Deryabin, and the Vladimir and Yevdokiya Petrov.

The rush of Soviet intelligence and state security officer defectors that followed Stalin’s death waned in the late 1950s, settling to a few per year until the Soviet regime was approaching its end in the 1980s. The late 1980s and early 1990s saw another wave of intelligence and state security officer defectors, as they became disgruntled with the tasks they were given to perform.

Although post-Soviet Russian laws changed, opening the opportunity to travel abroad freely, intelligence and state security officers faced still restrictions preventing them from traveling abroad. Thus, the defection of intelligence and state security officer has continued, even accelerating since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.[7]

The folliwing is a list of Soviet intelligence and state security officers and agents who have defected.


Name Defection date Country of defection Comment
Petr Mikhailovich Karpov[8] August 1924 Weimar Republic Weimar Germany Also known as Mikhail Georgiyevich Sumarokov
Mikhail Yakovlevich Hendler[9] April 1926 Cuba Cuba Immigrated to USA in about 1927
I. I. Kravets[10] August 1926 Iran Iran Moved directly to France
Stefens[11][12] August 1926 France France Also known as Ivan Vasilyevich Gavrilchenko
Yevgeniy Mikhailovich Kozhevnikov[13] May 1927 China China Also known as Yevgeniy Pik, Hovans, Kluge
Ivan Nikitin[14] October 1927 Latvia Latvia OGPU Border Guard intelligence officer
Yevgeniy Vasilyevich Dumbadze[15][16] June 1928 France France
Semen Aleksandrovich Bryantsev[17] January 1929 Weimar Republic Weimar Germany Defection questioned
Eduard Martinovich Miller[18] March 1930 Latvia Latvia
Fedor Pavlovich Drugov[19] March 1930 Finland Finland Immigrated to France. Redefected, February 1934
Georgiy Sergeyevich Agabekov[20][21][22] June 1930 France France Real surname, Arutyunov. Disappeared around August 1937. Body never recovered.
Nikolay Ignatyevich Kiselev[23][24] June 1930 Finland Finland Surname sometimes rendered Kiselev-Gromov
Ignace Reiss[25] July 1937 France France Real name, Ignatiy Stanislavovich Poretskiy. Gunned down in Switzerland by an NKVD hit squad on 4 September 1938
Walter Germanovich Krivitskiy[20][26] October 1937 France France Real name, Samuel Gershovich Ginzberg. Found dead in his hotel room on 10 February 1941 with a gunshot wound to the temple. Suspected foul play
Iosif Vulfovich Volodarsky[27] April 1938 Canada Canada
Genrikh Samoilovich Lyushkov[28] June 1938 Empire of Japan Japan Executed by Japan in 1945 to prevent his recapture by the Soviets
Aleksandr Mikhailovich Orlov[20][29] July 1938 United States United States Real name, Leyba Lazerevich Feldbin
Lev Borisovich Helfand[20][30] July 1940 Italy Italy United States United States Immigrated to the United States
Aleksandr Yakovlevich Zhigunov[31] August 1941 Nazi Germany Germany
Ivan Georgiyevich Bessonov[32] August 1941 Nazi Germany Germany Repatriated, executed in 1950
Aleksandr Vladimirovich Anokhin[33] September 1941 Nazi Germany Germany Published the book "Школа Опричников" under the pen name Aleksandr Brazhnev
Ivan Matveyevich Grachev[34] September 1941 Nazi Germany Germany
Nikolay Fedorovich Lapin[35] October 1941 Nazi Germany Germany
Petr Vasilyevich Kashtanov[36] February 1942 Nazi Germany Germany
Lidiya Pavlovna Yesenina[37] October 1942 Nazi Germany Germany
Vyacheslav Pavlovich Artemyev[38] September 1943 Nazi Germany Germany
Boris Alekseyevich Morozov[39] September 1943 Nazi Germany Germany
Igor Grigoryevich Orlov[40] October 1943 Nazi Germany Germany Real surname, Kopatskiy. Re-recruited as Soviet agent in 1949
Aleksandr Fedorovich Chikalov[41] November 1943 Nazi Germany Germany Kidnapped, returned to the Soviet Union in October 1949
Gasan Artemovich Arabadzhev[42] November 1943 Nazi Germany Germany
Viktor Andreyevich Kravchenko[20][43] April 1944 United States United States Not an intelligence officer
Mikhail Dmitriyevich Mondich[44] August 1945 Germany Germany
Konstantin Dmitriyevich Volkov[45] September 1945 Turkey Turkey Offered to defect, but was caught after Kim Philby informed the NKVD
Michael Pines[46] December 1945 Austria Austria
Sergey Naumovich Perlin[47] March 1946 Germany Germany
Anatoliy Mikhailovich Granovskiy[48][49] September 1946 Sweden Sweden Resettled in Brazil; later immigrated to the United States
Aleksandr Stepanovich Kravchenko[50] June 1947 United States United States
Boris Ivanovich Baklanov[51] July 1947 Austria Austria United Kingdom United Kingdom
Vasiliy Mikhailovich Sharandak[20][52] August 1947 Austria Austria
(Aleksandr Nikolayevich?) Rebrov [53] 1947 Germany Germany
Simas Pečiulionis[54] April 1948 Germany Germany
Aleksandr Nikolayevich Mikheyev[55] August 1948 Germany Germany
Boris Kupriyanovich Gurzhiev[56] November 1948 Germany Germany
Georgiy Ivanovich Samusev[57] December 1948 Germany Germany
Olga Yakovlevna Bentsianovskaya[58] February 1949 Germany Germany United Kingdom United Kingdom
Rafail Illych Goldfarb[59] July 1949 Germany Germany
Nikolay Ivanovich Bondarev[60] July 1949 Germany Germany
Ivan Matveyevich Grigoryev[61] October 1949 Germany Germany
Georgiy Vasilyevich Salimanov[62] May 1950 Germany Germany
Viktor Aleksandrovich Dubkov[63] November 1952 Germany Germany Captured on the battlefield in 1943; withheld his intelligence affiliation until 1952
Grigoriy Stepanovich Burlutskiy[64] June 1953 Afghanistan Afghanistan Immigrated to Germany
Grigoriy Fedorovich Pavlov[65] August 1953 Norway Norway
Yevgeniy Vladimirovich Brik[66] November 1953 Canada Canada
Yuriy Aleksandrovich Rastvorov[20][67] January 1954 Japan Japan Brought to the United States
Petr Sergeyevich Deryabin[20][43][68] February 1954 Austria Austria Brought to the United States
Nikolay Yevgenyevich Khokhlov[69] February 1954 Germany West Germany Immigrated to the United States. Victim of thallium poisoning in 1957. Survived[70]
Vladimir Mikhaylovich Petrov[20][43][71] 3 April 1954 Australia Australia Real name, Afanasiy Mikhailovich Shorokhov. Led to the Petrov Affair in Australia[72]
Yevdokiya Alekseyevna Petrova[73] 19 April 1954 Australia Australia Real name, Yevdokia Alexeyevna Kartseva. Led to the Petrov Affair in Australia[72]
Lars Edvin Lindström[74] August 1954 Sweden Sweden
Reino Häyhänen March 1957 France France Died in a York, PA hospital.[75] Rumors of his death in a suspicious auto accident are erroneous.
Anatoliy Mikhailovich Golitsyn[43] 15 December 1961 Finland Finland
Bohdan Mykolayovych Stashynsky August 1961 Germany West Berlin
Yuri Vasilevich Krotkov September 1963 United Kingdom United Kingdom KGB agent, not an officer
Yuriy Ivanovich Nosenko[76] February 1964 Switzerland Switzerland Authenticity of defection disputed[43]
Yuriy Aleksandrovich Bezmenov[77] February 1970 Canada Canada Intelligence agent, not an officer
Sergey Nikolayevich Kourdakov 4 September 1971 Canada Canada Intelligence agent, not an officer
Oleg Adolfovich Lyalin[43] September 1971 United Kingdom United Kingdom
Imants Lešinskis[78] September 1978[79] United States United States
Aleksei Alekseyevich Myagkov[43][80] February 1974 Germany West Berlin
Stanislav Aleksandrovich Levchenko[43][81] October 1979 Japan Japan
Ilya Grigoryevich Dzhirkvelov[43][82] May 1980 Switzerland Switzerland
Viktor Ivanovich Sheymov[83] May 1980 United States United States
Vladimir Anatolyevich Kuzichkin[84] June 1982 Iran Iran
Oleg Antonovich Gordievsky[85] 19 July 1985 United Kingdom United Kingdom Suspected poisoning in 2007. Survived[86]
Vitaly Sergeyevich Yurchenko August 1985 Italy Italy Disputed (later returned to USSR)[43]
Oleg Agraniants[87] May 1986 Tunisia Tunisia
Igor Nikolayevich Cherpinskiy[88] April 1990 Belgium Belgium
Sergey Sergeyevich Illarionov[89] February 1991 Italy Italy
Viktor Alekseyevich Oshchenko[90] July 1992 United Kingdom United Kingdom
Vasiliy Nikitich Mitrokhin September 1992 Latvia Latvia
Aleksandr Nikolayevich Poteyev 26 June 2010 United States United States KGB colonel, later SVR officer. Multiple assassination attempts[91][92][93]

See also

References

  1. ^ Riehle, Kevin (2020). Soviet Defectors: Revelation of Renegade Intelligence Officers 1924-19554. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-147-446723-0.
  2. ^ Riehle, Kevin. "The Defector Balance Sheet: Westbound Versus Eastbound Intelligence Defectors from 1945 to 1965". International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence. 33 (1): 68–96.
  3. ^ Riehle, Kevin. (2025). "World War II Soviet Intelligence and State Security Officer Defectors," in Jadwiga Biskupska and Sara Castro (eds.), “Shots in the Dark: Experimentation, Success, and Failure in the Second World War. Fordham University Press, 250-277
  4. ^ Riehle, Kevin. Soviet Defectors: Revelation of Renegade Intelligence Officers 1924-1954. pp. 11–44.
  5. ^ Riehle, Kevin. "Early Cold War Evolution of British and U.S. Defector Policy and Practice". Cold War History. 19 (2): 343–361.
  6. ^ Riehle, Kevin. Soviet Defectors: Revelation of Renegade Intelligence Officers 1924-1954. pp. 214–262.
  7. ^ Riehle, Kevin. "Post-KGB Lives: Is There Such a Thing as a Former Chekist?". International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence. 36 (2): 492–515.
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  9. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, Mikhail Yakovlevich Hendler".
  10. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, I. I. Kravets".
  11. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, Stefens".
  12. ^ Stefens (11 September 1926). "Нравы и Работа ГПУ". Vozrozhdenie. 2 (466): 2.
  13. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, Yevgeniy Mikhailovich Kozhevnikov".
  14. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, Ivan Nikitin".
  15. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, Yevgeniy Vasilyeich Dumbadze".
  16. ^ Dumbadze, Yevgeniy (1930). На Службе ЧК и Коминтерна (PDF). Paris: Mishen.
  17. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, Semen Aleksandrovich Bryantsev".
  18. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, Eduard Martinovich Miller".
  19. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, Fedor Pavlovich Drugov".
  20. ^ a b c d e f g h i FBI, Soviet Defectors: A Study of Past Defections from Official Soviet Establishments Outside the USSR, January 1955.
  21. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, Georgiy Sergeyevich Arutyunov".
  22. ^ Agabekov, G. S. (1930). ГПУ: Записки Чекиста (PDF). Berlin: Strela.
  23. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, Nikolay Ignatyevich Kiselev".
  24. ^ Kiselev-Gromov, N. I. (1936). Лагери Смерти в СССР (PDF). Shanghai: Malinovskiy Publishing House.
  25. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, Ignatiy Stanislavovich Poretskiy".
  26. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, Samuel Gershovich Ginzberg".
  27. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, Iosif Vulfovich Volodarsky".
  28. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, Genrikh Samoilovich Lyushkov".
  29. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, Leyba Lazerevich Feldbin".
  30. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, Lev Borisovich Helfand".
  31. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, Aleksandr Yakovlevich Zhigunov".
  32. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, Ivan Georgiyevich Bessonov".
  33. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, Aleksandr Vladimirovich Anokhin".
  34. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, Ivan Matveyevich Grachev".
  35. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, Nikolay Fedorovich Lapin".
  36. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, Petr Vasilyevich Kashtanov".
  37. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, Lidiya Pavlovna Yesenina".
  38. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, Vyacheslav Pavlovich Artemyev".
  39. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, Boris Alekseyevich Morozov".
  40. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, Aleksandr Grigoryevich Kopatskiy".
  41. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, Aleksandr Fedorovich Chikalov".
  42. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, Gasan Artemovich Arabadzhev".
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  45. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, Konstantin Dmitriyevich Volkov".
  46. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, Michael Pines".
  47. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, Sergey Naumovich Perlin".
  48. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, Anatoliy Mikhailovich Granovskiy".
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  50. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, Aleksandr Stepanovich Kravchenko".
  51. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, Boris Ivanovich Baklanov".
  52. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, Vasiliy Mikhailovich Sharandak".
  53. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, (Aleksandr Nikolayevich?) Rebrov".
  54. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, Simas Pečiulionis".
  55. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, Aleksandr Nikolayevich Mikheyev".
  56. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, Boris Kupriyanovich Gurzhiev".
  57. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, Georgiy Ivanovich Samusev".
  58. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, Olga Yakovlevna Bentsianovskaya".
  59. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, Rafail Illych Goldfarb".
  60. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, Nikolay Ivanovich Bondarev".
  61. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, Ivan Matveyevich Grigoryev".
  62. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, Georgiy Vasilyevich Salimanov".
  63. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, Viktor Aleksandrovich Dubkov".
  64. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, Grigoriy Stepanovich Burlutskiy".
  65. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, Grigoriy Fedorovich Pavlov".
  66. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, Yevgeniy Vladimirovich Brik".
  67. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, Yuriy Aleksandrovich Rastvorov".
  68. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, Petr Sergeyevich Deryabin".
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  72. ^ a b "Petrov Affair". Defining Moments. National Museum of Australia. 2023. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
  73. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, Yevdokia Alexeyevna Kartseva (Part 2)".
  74. ^ "Soviet Defectors Database, Lars Edvin Lindström".
  75. ^ June, Lloyd (10 April 2017). "A Soviet spy lived in York County". York Daily Record.
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  81. ^ Levchenko, Stanislav (1988). On the Wrong Side: My Life in the KGB. Washington, DC: Pergamon-Brassey's. ISBN 978-0-080-34478-2.
  82. ^ Dzhirkvelov, Ilya (1987). Secret Servant: My Life with the KGB and the Soviet Elite. New York: Harper and Row. ISBN 978-0-002-17598-2.
  83. ^ Sheymov, Victor (1993) Tower of Secrets: A Real Life Spy Thriller, Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press.
  84. ^ Kuzichkin, Vladimir (1990). Inside the KGB: My Life in Soviet Espionage. New York: Pantheon. ISBN 978-4-871-87075-7.
  85. ^ Gordievsky, Oleg (1995). Next Stop Execution: The Autobiography of Oleg Gordievsky. Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-333-62086-1.
  86. ^ Gray, Sadie (6 April 2010). "Double agent Gordievsky claims he was poisoned by the Kremlin". The Independent. London. Retrieved 18 December 2010.
  87. ^ Associated Press (June 20, 1986) Key Soviet Spy in N. Africa Defects to U.S.
  88. ^ Richelson, Jeffrey (January 1999). The U.S. Intelligence Community. Westview Press. pp. 337–. ISBN 978-0-8133-6893-1.
  89. ^ Prokhorov, Dmitriy Petrovich (2005) Сколько стоит продать Родину? (What is the Cost of Betraying One's Homeland?) Moscow, OLMA-Press, pp. 463-466.
  90. ^ Savill, Annika (1992-08-13) 'Missing' Russian spy defects to Britain. independent.co.uk.
  91. ^ "More of Kremlin's Opponents Are Ending Up Dead". The New York Times. September 13, 2018.
  92. ^ "The attempted assassination of a Russian spy defector". Newsnight. October 2, 2018 – via YouTube.
  93. ^ "Russia Sought to Kill Defector in Florida". New York Times. June 19, 2023.

Further reading

  • Richelson, Jeffrey. (1999). The U.S. Intelligence Community: Fourth Edition [Book]. WestView Press, ISBN 978-0-8133-6893-1
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