List of KGB defectors

Aleksei Myagkov in 1977

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

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

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h FBI, Soviet Defectors: A Study of Past Defections from Official Soviet Establishments Outside the USSR, January 1955.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. ^ a b "Petrov Affair". Defining Moments. National Museum of Australia. 2023. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
  5. ^ New York Times[1]
  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

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