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.

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.

To defect, a Soviet officer needed to make contact with a foreign power. A Soviet officer had three ways to do that:

A defector could approach a foreign power while already outside the Soviet Union on official business, like diplomatic cover. A defector could cross a border to a country neighboring the Soviet Union and request asylum. 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.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 Intelligence and state security officer defectors used all three methods over the course of Soviet history.

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. 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.

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. That resulted in prominent defectors, like: Nikolay Khokhlov, Petr Deryabin, and 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 still faced restrictions preventing them from traveling abroad. Thus, the defection of intelligence and state security officers has continued, even accelerating since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The following is a list of Soviet (later, Russian) intelligence and state security officers and agents who have defected.

Name Defection date Country of defection CommentPetr Mikhailovich KarpovAugust 1924 Weimar RepublicAlso known as Mikhail Georgiyevich SumarokovMikhail Yakovlevich HendlerApril 1926 CubaImmigrated to USA in about 1927I. I. KravetsAugust 1926 IranMoved directly to FranceStefens FranceAlso known as Ivan Vasilyevich GavrilchenkoYevgeniy Mikhailovich KozhevnikovMay 1927 ChinaAlso known as: Yevgeniy Pik, Hovans, KlugeIvan NikitinOctober 1927 LatviaOGPU Border Guard intelligence officerYevgeniy Vasilyevich DumbadzeJune 1928 FranceSemen Aleksandrovich BryantsevJanuary 1929 Weimar RepublicDefection questionedEduard Martinovich MillerMarch 1930 LatviaFedor Pavlovich Drugov FinlandImmigrated to France. Redefected, February 1934Georgiy Sergeyevich AgabekovFBI, Soviet Defectors: A Study of Past Defections from Official Soviet Establishments Outside the USSR, January 1955.June 1930 FranceReal surname: Arutyunov. Disappeared around August 1937. Body never recovered.Nikolay Ignatyevich Kiselev FinlandSurname sometimes rendered "Kiselev-Gromov"Ignace ReissJuly 1937 FranceReal name: Ignatiy Stanislavovich Poretskiy. Gunned down in Switzerland by an NKVD hit squad, on 4 September 1938Walter Germanovich KrivitskiyOctober 1937Real name: Samuel Gershovich Ginzberg. Found dead in his hotel room, on 10 February 1941, with a gunshot wound to the temple. Suspected foul playIosif Vulfovich VolodarskyApril 1938 CanadaGenrikh Samoilovich LyushkovJune 1938 JapanExecuted by Japan in 1945, to prevent his recapture by the Soviets Aleksandr Mikhailovich OrlovJuly 1938 United StatesReal name: Leyba Lazerevich FeldbinLev Borisovich HelfandJuly 1940 Italy United StatesImmigrated to the United StatesAleksandr Yakovlevich ZhigunovAugust 1941 Nazi GermanyIvan Georgiyevich BessonovRepatriated, executed in 1950Aleksandr Vladimirovich AnokhinSeptember 1941Published the book "Школа Опричников" under the pen name Aleksandr BrazhnevIvan Matveyevich GrachevNikolay Fedorovich LapinOctober 1941Petr Vasilyevich KashtanovFebruary 1942Lidiya Pavlovna YeseninaOctober 1942Vyacheslav Pavlovich ArtemyevSeptember 1943Boris Alekseyevich MorozovIgor Grigoryevich OrlovOctober 1943Real surname: Kopatskiy. Re-recruited as Soviet agent in 1949Aleksandr Fedorovich ChikalovNovember 1943Kidnapped (forcibly taken) to the Soviet Union in October 1949Gasan Artemovich ArabadzhevViktor Andreyevich KravchenkoApril 1944 United StatesNot an intelligence officerMikhail Dmitriyevich MondichAugust 1945Allied-occupied GermanyKonstantin Dmitriyevich VolkovSeptember 1945 TurkeyOffered to defect, but was caught after Kim Philby informed the NKVDMichael PinesDecember 1945 Allied-occupied AustriaSergey Naumovich PerlinMarch 1946Allied-occupied GermanyAnatoliy Mikhailovich GranovskiySeptember 1946 SwedenResettled in Brazil; later immigrated to the United StatesAleksandr Stepanovich KravchenkoJune 1947 United StatesBoris Ivanovich BaklanovJuly 1947 Allied-occupied Austria United KingdomVasiliy Mikhailovich SharandakAugust 1947 Allied-occupied Austria(Aleksandr Nikolayevich?) Rebrov1947Allied-occupied GermanySimas PečiulionisApril 1948Aleksandr Nikolayevich MikheyevAugust 1948Boris Kupriyanovich GurzhievNovember 1948Georgiy Ivanovich SamusevDecember 1948Olga Yakovlevna BentsianovskayaFebruary 1949Allied-occupied Germany United KingdomRafail Illych GoldfarbJuly 1949 West GermanyNikolay Ivanovich BondarevIvan Matveyevich GrigoryevOctober 1949Georgiy Vasilyevich SalimanovMay 1950Viktor Aleksandrovich DubkovNovember 1952Captured on the battlefield in 1943; withheld his intelligence affiliation until 1952Grigoriy Stepanovich BurlutskiyJune 1953 AfghanistanImmigrated to West GermanyGrigoriy Fedorovich PavlovAugust 1953 NorwayYevgeniy Vladimirovich BrikNovember 1953 CanadaYuriy Aleksandrovich RastvorovJanuary 1954 JapanBrought to the United StatesPetr Sergeyevich DeryabinKnight, Amy (2004) "Defectors, Soviet Era" in Encyclopedia of Russian HistoryFebruary 1954 Allied-occupied AustriaNikolay Yevgenyevich Khokhlov West GermanyImmigrated to the United States. Victim of thallium poisoning in 1957. SurvivedVladimir Mikhaylovich Petrov3 April 1954 AustraliaReal name: Afanasiy Mikhailovich Shorokhov. Led to the Petrov Affair in AustraliaYevdokiya Alekseyevna Petrova19 April 1954Real name: Yevdokia Alexeyevna Kartseva. Led to the Petrov Affair in AustraliaLars Edvin LindströmAugust 1954 SwedenReino HäyhänenMarch 1957 FranceDied in a York, PA hospital. Rumors of his death in a suspicious auto accident are erroneous.Anatoliy Mikhailovich Golitsyn15 December 1961 FinlandBohdan Mykolayovych StashynskyAugust 1961 West BerlinYuri Vasilevich KrotkovSeptember 1963 United KingdomKGB agent, not an officerYuriy Ivanovich NosenkoRosenbaum, Ron (2007-02-12) The Spy Who Came in From Geneva: Nosenko, the K.G.B. Defector. observer.comFebruary 1964 SwitzerlandAuthenticity of defection disputedYuriy Aleksandrovich BezmenovBezmenov, 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 BezmenovFebruary 1970 CanadaKGB co-optee, not an officerSergey Nikolayevich Kourdakov4 September 1971Intelligence agent, not an officerOleg Adolfovich LyalinSeptember 1971 United KingdomAleksei Alekseyevich MyagkovFebruary 1974 West BerlinImants LešinskisShifting interpretations of the Holocaust in Eastern Europe, Prof. Emeritus Dr. Andrew Ezergailis, retrieved 1-January-2015.September 1978Richey, Warren. "KGB defector talks about former job in 'ethnic espionage'", The Christian Science Monitor. 1984, June 14. United StatesStanislav Aleksandrovich LevchenkoOctober 1979 JapanIlya Grigoryevich DzhirkvelovMay 1980 SwitzerlandViktor Ivanovich SheymovSheymov, Victor (1993) Tower of Secrets: A Real Life Spy Thriller, Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. United StatesVladimir Anatolyevich KuzichkinJune 1982 IranOleg Antonovich Gordievsky19 July 1985 United KingdomSuspected poisoning in 2007. SurvivedVitaly Sergeyevich YurchenkoAugust 1985 ItalyDisputed (later returned to USSR)Oleg AgraniantsAssociated Press (June 20, 1986) Key Soviet Spy in N. Africa Defects to U.S.May 1986 TunisiaIgor Nikolayevich CherpinskiyApril 1990 BelgiumSergey Sergeyevich IllarionovProkhorov, Dmitriy Petrovich (2005) Сколько стоит продать Родину? (What is the Cost of Betraying One's Homeland?) Moscow, OLMA-Press, pp. 463-466.February 1991 ItalyViktor Alekseyevich OshchenkoSavill, Annika (1992-08-13) 'Missing' Russian spy defects to Britain. independent.co.uk.July 1992 United KingdomVasiliy Nikitich MitrokhinSeptember 1992 LatviaAleksandr Nikolayevich Poteyev26 June 2010 United StatesKGB colonel, later SVR officer. Multiple assassination attempts

See also List of Cold War pilot defections GRU List of Soviet and Eastern Bloc defectors Petrov Affair Soviet Defectors Database

References

Further reading Richelson, Jeffrey. (1999). The U.S. Intelligence Community: Fourth Edition [Book]. WestView Press,