In
politics
Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that stud ...
, a defector is a person who gives up
allegiance
An allegiance is a duty of fidelity said to be owed, or freely committed, by the people, subjects or citizens to their state or sovereign.
Etymology
From Middle English ''ligeaunce'' (see medieval Latin ''ligeantia'', "a liegance"). The ''al ...
to one state in exchange for allegiance to another, changing sides in a way which is considered illegitimate by the first state. More broadly, defection involves abandoning a person, cause, or doctrine to which one is bound by some tie, as of allegiance or duty.
This term is also applied, often pejoratively, to anyone who switches loyalty to another
religion
Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...
,
sports team
A sports team is a group of individuals who play sports ( sports player), usually team sports, on the same team. The number of players in the group depends on type of the sports requirements.
Historically, sports teams and the people who play ...
,
political party
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...
, or other rival faction. In that sense, the defector is often considered a
traitor
Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
by their original side.
International politics
![Checkpoint Charlie Memorial](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/41/Checkpoint_Charlie_Memorial.JPG)
The physical act of defection is usually in a manner which violates the laws of the nation or political entity from which the person is seeking to depart. By contrast, mere changes in
citizenship
Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection".
Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...
, or working with allied militia, usually do not violate any law(s).
For example, in the 1950s,
East German
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
s were increasingly prohibited from traveling to the western
Federal Republic of Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between ...
where they were automatically regarded as citizens according to
Exclusive mandate. The
Berlin Wall (1961) and fortifications along the
Inner German border (1952 onward) were erected by the Communist
German Democratic Republic
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**G ...
to enforce the policy. When people tried to "defect" from the GDR they were to be shot on sight. Several hundred people
were killed along that border in their
Republikflucht
''Republikflucht'' (German for "desertion from the republic") was the colloquial term in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) for illegal emigration to West Germany, West Berlin, and non-Warsaw Pact countries; the official term was ' ...
attempt. Official crossings did exist, but permissions to leave temporarily or permanently were seldom granted. On the other hand, the GDR citizenship of some "inconvenient" East Germans was revoked, and they had to leave their home on short notice against their will. Others, like singer
Wolf Biermann
Karl Wolf Biermann (; born 15 November 1936) is a German singer-songwriter, poet, and former East German dissident. He is perhaps best known for the 1968 song "Ermutigung" and his expatriation from East Germany in 1976.
Early life
Biermann was b ...
, were prohibited from returning to the GDR.
During the
Cold War, the many people illegally emigrating from the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
or
Eastern Bloc to
the West
West is a cardinal direction or compass point.
West or The West may also refer to:
Geography and locations
Global context
* The Western world
* Western culture and Western civilization in general
* The Western Bloc, countries allied with NATO ...
were called defectors. Westerners defected to the Eastern Bloc as well, often to avoid prosecution as spies. Some of the more famous cases were British spy
Kim Philby
Harold Adrian Russell "Kim" Philby (1 January 191211 May 1988) was a British intelligence officer and a double agent for the Soviet Union. In 1963 he was revealed to be a member of the Cambridge Five, a spy ring which had divulged British secr ...
, who defected to the USSR to avoid exposure as a
KGB
The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...
mole, and
22 Allied POWs (one Briton and twenty-one Americans) who declined repatriation after the
Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
, electing to remain in China.
When the individual leaves his country and provides information to a foreign intelligence service, they are a
HUMINT source defector. In some cases, defectors remain in the country or with the political entity they were against, functioning as a
defector in place. Intelligence services are always concerned when debriefing defectors with the possibility of a
fake defection Fake defection, often referred to as a "provocation" or " dangle" in intelligence circles, is a defection by an intelligence agent made on false pretenses. Fake defectors (who may be referred to as "plant"s) may spread disinformation or aid in uncov ...
.
Entire militaries can defect and choose not to follow orders from a state's leaders. During the
Arab Spring
The Arab Spring ( ar, الربيع العربي) was a series of anti-government protests, uprisings and armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began in Tunisia in response to corruption and econo ...
protests, militaries in Egypt and Tunisia refused orders to fire upon protesters or use other methods to disperse them.
The decision to defect can be driven by the desire to prevent insubordination: if a military leader judges that lower officers will disobey orders to fire upon protesters, they could be more likely to defect.
Notable defectors
Artists
*
Paquito D'Rivera, Cuban saxophonist and clarinetist, who defected to the United States in 1980.
*
Mikhail Baryshnikov,
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
(Russian) dancer, who defected to
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
in 1974, while in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
, touring with the
Kirov Ballet
The Mariinsky Ballet (russian: Балет Мариинского театра) is the resident classical ballet company of the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Founded in the 18th century and originally known as the Imperial Russ ...
. He later moved to the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
.
*
Natalia Makarova
Natalia Romanovna Makarova (russian: Ната́лия Рома́новна Мака́рова, born 21 November 1940) is a Russian prima ballerina and choreographer. ''The History of Dance'', published in 1981, notes that "her performances set ...
, Soviet (Russian) dancer, who defected while in London in 1970.
*
Georgi Markov
Georgi Ivanov Markov ( bg, Георги Иванов Марков ; 1 March 1929 – 11 September 1978) was a Bulgarian dissident writer. He originally worked as a novelist, screenwriter and playwright in his native country, the People's Repub ...
, Bulgarian author, who defected in 1968, eventually settling in London, England.
*
Rudolf Nureyev
Rudolf Khametovich Nureyev ( ; Tatar/ Bashkir: Рудольф Хәмит улы Нуриев; rus, Рудо́льф Хаме́тович Нуре́ев, p=rʊˈdolʲf xɐˈmʲetəvʲɪtɕ nʊˈrʲejɪf; 17 March 19386 January 1993) was a Soviet ...
, Soviet (Russian) dancer, who defected while in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
touring with the
Kirov Ballet
The Mariinsky Ballet (russian: Балет Мариинского театра) is the resident classical ballet company of the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Founded in the 18th century and originally known as the Imperial Russ ...
in 1961.
*
George Balanchine, Georgian
choreographer, who defected to the
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is ...
in 1924.
*
Arturo Sandoval
Arturo Sandoval is a Cuban-American jazz trumpeter, pianist, and composer. While living in his native Cuba, Sandoval was influenced by jazz musicians Charlie Parker, Clifford Brown, and Dizzy Gillespie. In 1977 he met Gillespie, who became his f ...
, Cuban trumpeter, pianist, and composer, who defected to the United States in 1990.
*
Jan Sobota, Czech fine bookbinder, who defected to Switzerland in 1982, and settled in the United States in 1984.
Athletes
*
Guillermo Rigondeaux
Guillermo Rigondeaux Ortiz (; born 30 September 1980) is a Cuban professional boxer. He is a former world champion in two weight classes, having held the unified WBA (Super), WBO and '' Ring'' magazine super bantamweight titles between 2013 a ...
, Cuban
professional boxer
Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...
, who defected to the United States in 2009.
*
Aroldis Chapman
Albertín Aroldis Chapman de la Cruz (; born February 28, 1988) is a Cuban-born American professional baseball relief pitcher who is a free agent. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cincinnati Reds, New York Yankees and C ...
, Cuban
baseball pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw a ...
, who defected to Andorra in 2009 before signing a
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
contract in 2010.
*
José Fernández, Cuban
baseball player
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding te ...
, who defected to the United States in 2008.
*
Lutz Eigendorf
Lutz Eigendorf (16 July 1956 – 7 March 1983) was a German professional Association football, footballer who played as a midfielder.
East German career
Eigendorf was born in Brandenburg an der Havel in East Germany. He began playing football ...
, an East German
football player for
BFC Dynamo who defected to
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
in 1979.
*
Orlando Hernandez, Cuban
baseball pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw a ...
, who defected to the United States in 1997.
*
Nadia Comăneci
Nadia Elena Comăneci Conner (born November 12, 1961) is a Romanian retired gymnast and a five-time Olympic gold medalist, all in individual events. In 1976, at the age of 14, Comăneci was the first gymnast to be awarded a perfect score of 10 ...
, Romanian Olympic gymnast, who defected to the United States in 1989.
*
Alexander Mogilny
Alexander Gennadevich Mogilny (russian: Александр Геннадиевич Могильный; born February 18, 1969) is a Russian former professional ice hockey player and the current president of Amur Khabarovsk of the Kontinental Hoc ...
, Soviet (Russian)
ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...
forward, who defected to the United States in 1988. He was the first Soviet player to defect to play in the
NHL
The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...
.
*
Béla Károlyi
Béla Károlyi (; born September 13, 1942) is an ethnic Hungarian Romanian-American gymnastics coach. Early in his coaching career he developed the Romanian centralised training system for gymnastics. One of his earliest protégés was Nadia C ...
and his wife
Márta Károlyi,
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...
n
gymnastics
Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, s ...
coaches (of
Nadia Comăneci
Nadia Elena Comăneci Conner (born November 12, 1961) is a Romanian retired gymnast and a five-time Olympic gold medalist, all in individual events. In 1976, at the age of 14, Comăneci was the first gymnast to be awarded a perfect score of 10 ...
and
Mary Lou Retton
Mary Lou Retton (born January 24, 1968) is an American retired gymnast. At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, she won a gold medal in the individual all-around competition, as well as two silver medals and two bronze medals. Her performanc ...
among others), who defected to the United States in 1981.
*
Osvaldo Alonso
Osvaldo Alonso Moreno (born November 11, 1985) is a Cuban professional Association football, footballer who currently plays as a Midfielder#Defensive midfielder, defensive midfielder for Atlanta United FC in Major League Soccer (MLS). He defect ...
, Cuban
soccer player
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...
, who defected to the United States in 2007.
*
José Abreu, Cuban baseball player, who defected to the United States in 2013.
*
Kimia Alizadeh
Kimia Alizadeh Zonouzi ( fa, کیمیا علیزاده زنوزی, Kīmiyā Alīzādeh Zonūzī; born 10 July 1998) is an Iranian Taekwondo athlete. Alizadeh won a bronze medal in the taekwondo 57 kg weight class at the 2016 Summer Olympics ...
, Iranian
taekwondo martial artist, who defected to the Netherlands in 2020.
*
César Prieto, Cuban baseball player, who defected to the United States in 2021.
*
Krystsina Tsimanouskaya
Krystsina Siarheyeuna Tsimanouskaya ( be, Крысціна Сяргееўна Ціманоўская, Łacinka: , ; born 19 November 1996) is a Belarusian-Polish sprinter. She has won numerous medals at various events, including a silver m ...
, Belarus sprinter, who defected to Poland in 2021.
Military
*
Larry Allen Abshier
Larry Allen Abshier (1943 – July 11, 1983) was one of six American soldiers to defect to North Korea after the Korean War. He was born in Urbana, Illinois.
Defecting
Private Abshier, a member of the 1st Reconnaissance Squadron, 9th Cavalry, ...
, the first of six American soldiers to defect to North Korea between the years 1962–1982. He died in 1983 from a heart attack while residing in
Pyongyang
Pyongyang (, , ) is the capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is known as the "Capital of the Revolution". Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. According to the 2008 populat ...
.
*
Benedict Arnold‚ a colonial general who during the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
defected to the
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
.
*
Riad al-Asaad, founder of the
Free Syrian Army and the entire Tlass Family during the
Syrian civil war.
*
Viktor Belenko
Viktor Ivanovich Belenko (russian: Виктор Иванович Беленко, born 15 February 1947) is a Russian-born American aerospace engineer and former Soviet pilot who defected in 1976 to the West while flying his MiG-25 jet intercep ...
, a
Soviet Air Force
The Soviet Air Forces ( rus, Военно-воздушные силы, r=Voyenno-vozdushnyye sily, VVS; literally "Military Air Forces") were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Soviet Air Defence Forces. The Air Forces ...
lieutenant who flew a MiG-25 fighter to Japan in 1976 and gained
political asylum
The right of asylum (sometimes called right of political asylum; ) is an ancient juridical concept, under which people persecuted by their own rulers might be protected by another sovereign authority, like a second country or another ent ...
in the United States.
*
James Joseph Dresnok
James Joseph Dresnok ( ko, 제임스 조새프 드레스녹, November 24, 1941 – November 2016) was an American defection, defector to North Korea, one of six U.S. soldiers to defect after the Korean War.
After defecting, Dresnok worked as an ...
, a
US Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
private who defected to
North Korea
North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...
by sneaking across the Demilitarized Zone in 1962. He would live the remainder of his life in the DPRK until his death in 2016.
*
Igor Gouzenko
Igor Sergeyevich Gouzenko (russian: Игорь Сергеевич Гузенко ; January 26, 1919 – June 25, 1982) was a cipher clerk for the Soviet embassy to Canada in Ottawa, Ontario, and a lieutenant of the GRU (Main Intelligence Direct ...
, a Soviet
cipher clerk who defected to Canada and released information regarding Soviet espionage activities in western society. Credited as one of the triggering factors for the beginning of the Cold War.
*
No Kum-Sok (later Kenneth Rowe) is known for having been a
lieutenant
A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations.
The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...
in the
North Korean Air Force
The Korean People's Army Air and Anti-Air Force (KPAAF; ; Hanja: 朝鮮人民軍 航空 및 反航空軍 ) is the unified military aviation force of North Korea. It is the second largest branch of the Korean People's Army comprising an estimated ...
during the
Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
who defected to
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...
. On September 21, 1953, he flew his
MiG-15
The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 (russian: Микоя́н и Гуре́вич МиГ-15; USAF/DoD designation: Type 14; NATO reporting name: Fagot) is a jet fighter aircraft developed by Mikoyan-Gurevich for the Soviet Union. The MiG-15 was one of ...
to the
Kimpo Air Base
Gimpo International Airport (), commonly known as Gimpo Airport , formerly rendered in English as Kimpo International Airport, is located in the far western end of Seoul, some west of the Central District of Seoul. Gimpo was the main interna ...
in South Korea, claiming that he wanted to get away from the "red deceit" and is often associated with
Operation Moolah
Operation Moolah was a United States Air Force (USAF) effort during the Korean War to obtain through defection a fully capable Soviet MiG-15 jet fighter. Communist forces introduced the MiG-15 to Korea on November 1, 1950. USAF pilots reported th ...
.
[Factsheets: Story of the MiG-15]
." National Museum of the United States Air Force.
*
Genrikh Lyushkov, the
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union.
...
chief in the
Russian Far East
The Russian Far East (russian: Дальний Восток России, r=Dal'niy Vostok Rossii, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in Northeast Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asian continent; and is admin ...
, defected to
Manchukuo in 1938 under
Great Purge
The Great Purge or the Great Terror (russian: Большой террор), also known as the Year of '37 (russian: 37-й год, translit=Tridtsat sedmoi god, label=none) and the Yezhovshchina ('period of Yezhov'), was Soviet General Secret ...
and then cooperated with
Imperial Japanese Army
The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...
.
*
Ivan Mazepa
Ivan Stepanovych Mazepa (also spelled Mazeppa; uk, Іван Степанович Мазепа, pl, Jan Mazepa Kołodyński; ) was a Ukrainian military, political, and civic leader who served as the Hetman of Zaporizhian Host in 1687–1708. ...
,
Ukrainian
Ukrainian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Ukraine
* Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe
* Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine
* So ...
Hetman of Zaporizhian Host from 1687–1708 who defected from the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
to the
Swedish Empire
The Swedish Empire was a European great power that exercised territorial control over much of the Baltic region during the 17th and early 18th centuries ( sv, Stormaktstiden, "the Era of Great Power"). The beginning of the empire is usually ta ...
during the
Battle of Poltava
The Battle of Poltava; russian: Полта́вская би́тва; uk, Полта́вська би́тва (8 July 1709) was the decisive and largest battle of the Great Northern War. A Russian army under the command of Tsar Peter I defeat ...
of the
Great Northern War
The Great Northern War (1700–1721) was a conflict in which a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the anti-Swed ...
.
*
Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald (October 18, 1939 – November 24, 1963) was a U.S. Marine veteran who assassinated John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, on November 22, 1963.
Oswald was placed in juvenile detention at the age of 12 fo ...
,
assassin of President John F. Kennedy claimed defection to the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
in October 1959 but was ultimately refused citizenship and returned to the United States in 1962.
*
Ion Mihai Pacepa
Ion Mihai Pacepa (; 28 October 1928 – 14 February 2021) was a Romanian two-star general in the Securitate, the secret police of the Socialist Republic of Romania, who defected to the United States in July 1978 following President Jimmy Carter' ...
, a
Romanian
Romanian may refer to:
*anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania
**Romanians, an ethnic group
**Romanian language, a Romance language
*** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language
** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...
Securitate
The Securitate (, Romanian for ''security'') was the popular term for the Departamentul Securității Statului (Department of State Security), the secret police agency of the Socialist Republic of Romania. Previously, before the communist regime ...
general who defected to the United States from the
Socialist Republic of Romania
The Socialist Republic of Romania ( ro, Republica Socialistă România, RSR) was a Marxist–Leninist one-party socialist state that existed officially in Romania from 1947 to 1989. From 1947 to 1965, the state was known as the Romanian Peop ...
in 1978.
*
Matiur Rahman, a Pakistani/Bangladeshi pilot who in 1971 attempted to defect with a T-33 along with Confidential Pakistani War plans to India to join the
Bangladesh Liberation War. However his plan was foiled by Flt.Lt
Rashid Minhas
Pilot Officer Rashid Minhas ( ur, ) was a Pakistani pilot in the Pakistan Air Force. Minhas was the only PAF officer to receive the highest valour award, the Nishan-e-Haider. He was also the youngest person and the shortest-serving officer ...
who crashed the plane after a brief struggle for control over the aircraft. The plane crashed some 50 Kilometres from the border.
*
Leamsy Salazar, former
lieutenant colonel of
Bolivarian Navy of Venezuela
)
, mascot =
, battles = Venezuelan War of Independence and the Battle of Lake Maracaibo
, anniversaries = July 24, Birthday of Simon Bolivar, Navy Day and Battle of Lake Maracaibo ...
and head of
security detail for
Hugo Chávez, defected to United States in December 2014.
*
Heng Samrin, a top-brass military figure in
Democratic Kampuchea
Kampuchea ( km, កម្ពុជា ), officially known as Democratic Kampuchea (DK; km, កម្ពុជាប្រជាធិបតេយ្យ ) from 5 January 1976, was a one-party totalitarian state which encompassed modern-day Camb ...
defected to
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
during the
Khmer Rouge purges of the Eastern Zone after considering the fate of
So Phim
So Phim was a Khmer Issarak, No. 3 of the Permanent Bureau and of the Military Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, deputy head of the People's National Liberation Armed Forces of Kampuchea, secretary of East Zone ...
, his superior in command.
Politics
*
Guy Burgess
Guy Francis de Moncy Burgess (16 April 1911 – 30 August 1963) was a British diplomat and Soviet agent, and a member of the Cambridge Five spy ring that operated from the mid-1930s to the early years of the Cold War era. His defection in 1951 ...
, British diplomat and member of the
Cambridge Five
The Cambridge Spy Ring was a ring of spies in the United Kingdom that passed information to the Soviet Union during World War II and was active from the 1930s until at least into the early 1950s. None of the known members were ever prosecuted ...
, defected to the Soviet Union in 1951.
*
Donald Maclean, British diplomat and member of the Cambridge Five, defected to the Soviet Union in 1951.
*
Kim Philby
Harold Adrian Russell "Kim" Philby (1 January 191211 May 1988) was a British intelligence officer and a double agent for the Soviet Union. In 1963 he was revealed to be a member of the Cambridge Five, a spy ring which had divulged British secr ...
, British intelligence officer and member of the Cambridge Five, defected to the Soviet Union in 1963.
*
Viktor Suvorov
Vladimir Bogdanovich Rezun (russian: link=no, Владимир Богданович Резун; born 20 April 1947), known by his pseudonym of Viktor Suvorov () is a former Soviet GRU officer who is the author of non-fiction books about World ...
(born 1947), Russian writer and former Soviet military intelligence officer who defected to the United Kingdom in 1978.
*
Thae Yong-ho
Thae Yong-ho (, ; born 25 July 1962), also known by his pseudonym Tae Ku-min (), is a North Korean-born South Korean politician and former diplomat who is serving as a member of the National Assembly for the Gangnam district of Seoul. He was Nor ...
, a former
North Korea
North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...
n diplomat for Britain. At an unknown date Thae defected from North Korea for his family, because he "didn't want his children, who were used to life of freedom, to suffer life of oppression". Being one of North Korea's elite, for the nation he was the highest profile defection since No Kum-sok (above) in 1953. He was elected to the
South Korean National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...
in
2020
2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...
for the
United Future Party
The People Power Party (; PPP), formerly known as the United Future Party (; UFP), is a conservative political party in South Korea. Controlling the South Korean presidency, it is the second largest party in the National Assembly. PPP, alon ...
, representing the Gangnam A district of
Seoul
Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...
.
*
Vladimir Petrov - Soviet diplomat who defected to Australia in 1954.
Others
*
Viktor Korchnoi
Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi ( rus, Ви́ктор Льво́вич Корчно́й, p=vʲiktər lʲvovʲɪtɕ kɐrtɕˈnoj; 23 March 1931 – 6 June 2016) was a Soviet (before 1976) and Swiss (after 1980) chess grandmaster (GM) and chess writer. H ...
, Russian chess Grandmaster, defected in Amsterdam in 1976.
*
Walter Polovchak, minor, defected to the United States in 1980 at 12. He and his parents moved to the United States from
Soviet Ukraine
The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic ( uk, Украї́нська Радя́нська Соціалісти́чна Респу́бліка, ; russian: Украи́нская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респ ...
in 1980 but later that year his parents decided to move back to Ukraine. He did not wish to return with them and was the subject of a five-year struggle to stay permanently. He won the right to permanent sanctuary in 1985 upon turning 18.
* The crew of
oil tanker Tuapse, held hostage in 1954 by the government of
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
during the
White Terror
White Terror is the name of several episodes of mass violence in history, carried out against anarchists, communists, socialists, liberals, revolutionaries, or other opponents by conservative or nationalist groups. It is sometimes contrasted wit ...
. An unusual case of forced defection, where the crew were forced to defect to the United States to secure their release. Those who refused were subjected to various forms of torture, while those who subsequently retracted their defection and returned to the Soviet Union were sentenced for treason but later pardoned. All surviving crew were released in 1988.
* , in order to defect from Russia in 2021, swam from
Kunashir Island
, other_names = kz, Kün Ashyr; ja, 国後島
, location = Sea of Okhotsk
, locator_map = File:Kurily Kunashir.svg
, coordinates =
, archipelago = Kuril Islands
, total_islands =
, major_islands =
, area =
, length =
, width = f ...
to
Hokkaido
is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel.
The lar ...
, a distance of about 20 kilometers, in 23 hours.
See also
*
Desertion
*
Dissident
A dissident is a person who actively challenges an established political or religious system, doctrine, belief, policy, or institution. In a religious context, the word has been used since the 18th century, and in the political sense since the 20th ...
*
Eastern Bloc emigration and defection
After World War II, emigration restrictions were imposed by countries in the Eastern Bloc, which consisted of the Soviet Union and its satellite states in Central and Eastern Europe. Legal emigration was in most cases only possible in order to r ...
**
List of Soviet and Eastern Bloc defectors
**
List of baseball players who defected from Cuba
This is a list of notable Cuban baseball players who have defected since the beginning of Fidel Castro's presidency. Prior to the Cuban Revolution, which saw Castro rise to power in 1959, Cuban-born players often played in the American Negro lea ...
**
North Korean defectors
**
Nevozvrashchentsy
After World War II, emigration restrictions were imposed by countries in the Eastern Bloc, which consisted of the Soviet Union and its satellite states in Central and Eastern Europe. Legal emigration was in most cases only possible in order to r ...
*
List of Cold War pilot defections
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby union ...
*
List of Western Bloc defectors
**
Martin and Mitchell defection
**
List of American and British defectors in the Korean War
This list names the twenty-two United Nations soldiers and POWs (one British and 21 Americans) who declined repatriation to the United Kingdom and United States after the Korean War in favor of remaining in China, and their subsequent fates. Also ...
*
Religious conversion
Religious conversion is the adoption of a set of beliefs identified with one particular religious denomination to the exclusion of others. Thus "religious conversion" would describe the abandoning of adherence to one denomination and affiliatin ...
*
Sociological definitions of apostasy
*
Treason
Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
*
Turncoat
A turncoat is a person who shifts allegiance from one loyalty or ideal to another, betraying or deserting an original cause by switching to the opposing side or party. In political and social history, this is distinct from being a traitor, as the ...
References
Further reading
* Brook-Shepherd, Gordon. ''The storm petrels: the first Soviet defectors, 1928-1938''. HarperCollins, 1977).
* Hänni, Adrian, and Miguel Grossmann. "Death to traitors? The pursuit of intelligence defectors from the Soviet Union to the Putin era." ''Intelligence and National Security'' (2020): 1-21.
* Krasnov, Vladislav. ''Soviet defectors: The KGB wanted list'' (Hoover Press, 2018).
* Riehle, Kevin P. "The Defector Balance Sheet: Westbound Versus Eastbound Intelligence Defectors from 1945 to 1965." ''International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence'' 33.1 (2020): 68-96.
* Riehle, Kevin P
"Early Cold War evolution of British and US defector policy and practice" ''Cold War History'' 19.3 (2019): 343-361. online free
* About
Oleg Penkovsky
Oleg Vladimirovich Penkovsky (russian: link=no, Олег Владимирович Пеньковский; 23 April 1919 – 16 May 1963), codenamed HERO, was a Soviet military intelligence (GRU) colonel during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Pen ...
.
**
* Tromly, Benjamin
"Ambivalent heroes: Russian defectors and American power in the early Cold War" ''Intelligence and National Security'' 33.5 (2018): 642-658.
External links
Famous Defectors - slideshow by ''
Life magazine''
Iranian diplomats defect
{{Authority control
Military terminology
Political terminology
Spies by role