List of KGB defectors

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This is a list of Soviet secret police officers and agents who have defected.

Contents

Aleksei Myagkov in 1977 Aleksei Myagkov 1977.jpg
Aleksei Myagkov in 1977
NameDefection dateCountry of defectionComment
Georgiy Sergeyevich Agabekov [1] 1930 Flag of France.svg France Disappeared around August, 1937. Body never recovered.
Ignace Reiss 1937, July Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Switzerland On September 4, 1938, Reiss was gunned down by an NKVD hit squad.
Walter Germanovich Krivitskiy [1] 1937, October Flag of France.svg France Found dead in his hotel room on Feb. 10, 1941 with a gunshot wound to the temple. Suspected foul play.
Genrikh Samoilovich Lyushkov 1938 Flag of Japan.svg Japan Executed by Japan in 1945, to avoid his recapture by the Soviet Union.
Aleksandr Mikhailovich Orlov [1] 1938 Canadian Red Ensign (1921-1957).svg Canada Authenticity of defection disputed [2]
Lev Borisovich Helfand [1] 1940 Flag of Italy.svg Italy
Igor Grigoryevich Orlov 1943 Flag of Germany (1935-1945).svg Germany Re-recruited as Soviet agent in 1949
Viktor Andreyevich Kravchenko [1] [2] 1944 Flag of the United States.svg United States Not an intelligence officer
Anatoliy Mikhailovich Granovskiy 1946 Flag of Sweden.svg Sweden
Petr Sergeyevich Deryabin [1] [2] 1953 Flag of Austria.svg Austria
Nikolay Yevgenyevich Khokhlov 1954 Flag of Germany.svg West Germany Victim of thallium poisoning in 1957. Survived. [3]
Yuriy Aleksandrovich Rastvorov [1] 1954 Flag of Japan.svg Japan
Vladimir Mikhaylovich Petrov [1] [2] 1954, April 3 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Australia Led to the Petrov Affair in Australia. [4]
Yevdokiya Alekseyevna Petrova 1954, April 19 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Australia Led to the Petrov Affair in Australia. [4]
Reino Häyhänen 1957Flag of France.svg  France Died in an automobile accident in 1961. Accident considered suspicious. [5]
Anatoliy Mikhailovich Golitsyn [2] 1961, December 15 Flag of Finland.svg Finland
Bohdan Mykolayovych Stashynsky 1961 Flag of Germany.svg West Berlin
Yuri Vasilevich Krotkov 1963 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom KGB agent, not officer
Yuriy Ivanovich Nosenko [6] 1964, January Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Switzerland Authenticity of defection disputed [2]
Yuriy Aleksandrovich Bezmenov [7] 1970 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Canada Intelligence agent, not officer
Sergey Nikolayevich Kourdakov 1971, September 4 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Canada Intelligence agent, not officer
Oleg Adolfovich Lyalin [2] 1971 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom
Imants Lešinskis [8] 1978 [9] Flag of the United States.svg United States
Aleksei Alekseyevich Myagkov [2] 1974 Flag of Germany.svg West Berlin
Stanislav Aleksandrovich Levchenko [2] 1979, October Flag of Japan.svg Japan
Oleg Agraniants [10] 1986 Flag of Tunisia.svg Tunisia
Ilya Grigoryevich Dzhirkvelov [2] 1980 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Switzerland
Viktor Ivanovich Sheymov [11] 1980 Flag of the United States.svg United States
Vladimir Anatolyevich Kuzichkin 1982 Flag of Iran.svg Iran
Oleg Antonovich Gordievsky 1985, July 19 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom Suspected poisoning in 2007. Survived. [12]
Vitaly Sergeyevich Yurchenko 1985 Flag of Italy.svg Italy Disputed (later returned to USSR). [2]
Igor Nikolayevich Cherpinskiy [13] 1990 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Belgium
Sergey Sergeyevich Illarionov [14] 1992 Flag of Italy.svg Italy
Vasiliy Nikitich Mitrokhin 1992 Flag of Latvia.svg Latvia
Viktor Alekseyevich Oshchenko [15] 1992, July Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom
Aleksandr Nikolayevich Poteyev 2010, June 26 Flag of the United States.svg United States KGB colonel, later SVR officer. Multiple assassination attempts. [16] [17] [18]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 FBI, Soviet Defectors: A Study of Past Defections from Official Soviet Establishments Outside the USSR, January 1955.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Knight, Amy (2004) "Defectors, Soviet Era" in Encyclopedia of Russian History
  3. "Meeting with past (Russian)". Archived from the original on 27 July 2006. Retrieved 19 November 2006.
  4. 1 2 "Petrov Affair". Defining Moments. National Museum of Australia. 2023. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
  5. New York Times
  6. Rosenbaum, Ron (2007-02-12) The Spy Who Came in From Geneva: Nosenko, the K.G.B. Defector. observer.com
  7. Bezmenov, Yuri; Griffin, G. Edward. (1984). Soviet Subversion of the Free Press: A Conversation with Yuri Bezmenov [Videotape]. Westlake Village, CA: American Media. OCLC [45810551] – Soviet subversion of the free press: a conversation with Yuri Bezmenov
  8. Shifting interpretations of the Holocaust in Eastern Europe, Prof. Emeritus Dr. Andrew Ezergailis, retrieved 1-January-2015.
  9. Richey, Warren. "KGB defector talks about former job in 'ethnic espionage'", The Christian Science Monitor. 1984, June 14.
  10. Associated Press (June 20, 1986) Key Soviet Spy in N. Africa Defects to U.S.
  11. Sheymov, Victor (1993) Tower of Secrets: A Real Life Spy Thriller, Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press.
  12. Gray, Sadie (6 April 2010). "Double agent Gordievsky claims he was poisoned by the Kremlin". The Independent . London. Retrieved 18 December 2010.
  13. Richelson, Jeffrey (January 1999). The U.S. Intelligence Community . Westview Press. pp.  337–. ISBN   978-0-8133-6893-1.
  14. Prokhorov, Dmitriy Petrovich (2005) Сколько стоит продать Родину? (What is the Cost of Betraying One's Homeland?) Moscow, OLMA-Press, pp. 463-466.
  15. Savill, Annika (1992-08-13) 'Missing' Russian spy defects to Britain. independent.co.uk.
  16. "More of Kremlin's Opponents Are Ending Up Dead". The New York Times . September 13, 2018.
  17. "The attempted assassination of a Russian spy defector". Newsnight. October 2, 2018 via YouTube.
  18. "Russia Sought to Kill Defector in Florida". New York Times . June 19, 2023.

Further reading