List of Soviet and Eastern Bloc defectors: Difference between revisions
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Soon after the formation of the [[Soviet Union]], [[Eastern Bloc emigration and defection|emigration restrictions were put in place]] to keep citizens from leaving the various countries of the Soviet Socialist Republics,<ref name="dowty69">{{Harvnb|Dowty|1989|p=69}}</ref> though some defections still occurred. During and after World War II, similar restrictions were put in place in non-Soviet countries of the [[Eastern Bloc]],<ref name="dowty114">{{Harvnb|Dowty|1989|p=114}}</ref> which consisted of the Communist states of Eastern Europe.<ref>''Eastern bloc'', ''The American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy'', Third Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005.</ref><ref>Hirsch, Donald, Joseph F. Kett, James S. Trefil, ''The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy',' Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2002, ISBN 0-618-22647-8, page 230</ref> |
Soon after the formation of the [[Soviet Union]], [[Eastern Bloc emigration and defection|emigration restrictions were put in place]] to keep citizens from leaving the various countries of the Soviet Socialist Republics,<ref name="dowty69">{{Harvnb|Dowty|1989|p=69}}</ref> though some defections still occurred. During and after World War II, similar restrictions were put in place in non-Soviet countries of the [[Eastern Bloc]],<ref name="dowty114">{{Harvnb|Dowty|1989|p=114}}</ref> which consisted of the Communist states of Eastern Europe.<ref>''Eastern bloc'', ''The American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy'', Third Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005.</ref><ref>Hirsch, Donald, Joseph F. Kett, James S. Trefil, ''The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy',' Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2002, ISBN 0-618-22647-8, page 230</ref> |
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Until 1952, however, the lines between Communist [[East Germany]] and the western occupied zones could be easily crossed in most places.<ref name="dowty121">{{Harvnb|Dowty|1989|p=121}}</ref> Accordingly, before 1961, most of that east-west flow took place between East and [[West Germany]], with over 3.5 million East Germans emigrating to West Germany before 1961.<ref name="mynz221">{{Harvnb|Mynz|1995|p=2.2.1}}</ref><ref>Senate Chancellery, Governing Mayor of Berlin, [http://www.berlin.de/mauer/geschichte/index.en.html ''The construction of the Berlin Wall''] states "Between 1945 and 1961, around 3.6 million people left the Soviet zone and East Berlin"</ref> On August 13, 1961, a barbed-wire barrier, which would become the [[Berlin Wall]] separating East and West Berlin, was erected by East Germany.<ref name="pearson75">{{Harvnb|Pearson|1998|p=75}}</ref> |
Until 1952, however, the lines between Communist [[East Germany]] and the western occupied zones could be easily crossed in most places.<ref name="dowty121">{{Harvnb|Dowty|1989|p=121}}</ref> Accordingly, before 1961, most of that east-west flow took place between East and [[West Germany]], with over 3.5 million East Germans emigrating to West Germany before 1961.<ref name="mynz221">{{Harvnb|Mynz|1995|p=2.2.1}}</ref><ref>Senate Chancellery, Governing Mayor of Berlin, [http://www.berlin.de/mauer/geschichte/index.en.html ''The construction of the Berlin Wall''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140402152858/http://www.berlin.de/mauer/geschichte/index.en.html |date=2014-04-02 }} states "Between 1945 and 1961, around 3.6 million people left the Soviet zone and East Berlin"</ref> On August 13, 1961, a barbed-wire barrier, which would become the [[Berlin Wall]] separating East and West Berlin, was erected by East Germany.<ref name="pearson75">{{Harvnb|Pearson|1998|p=75}}</ref> |
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Although international movement was, for the most part, strictly controlled, there was a steady loss through escapees who were able to use ingenious methods to evade frontier security.<ref name="turnock19">{{Harvnb|Turnock|1997|p=19}}</ref> Numerous notable [[Eastern Bloc]] citizens [[defection|defect]]ed to non-Eastern Bloc countries.<ref name="krasnov2">{{Harvnb|Krasnov|1985|p=2}}</ref> |
Although international movement was, for the most part, strictly controlled, there was a steady loss through escapees who were able to use ingenious methods to evade frontier security.<ref name="turnock19">{{Harvnb|Turnock|1997|p=19}}</ref> Numerous notable [[Eastern Bloc]] citizens [[defection|defect]]ed to non-Eastern Bloc countries.<ref name="krasnov2">{{Harvnb|Krasnov|1985|p=2}}</ref> |
Revision as of 12:18, 19 May 2017
Soon after the formation of the Soviet Union, emigration restrictions were put in place to keep citizens from leaving the various countries of the Soviet Socialist Republics,[1] though some defections still occurred. During and after World War II, similar restrictions were put in place in non-Soviet countries of the Eastern Bloc,[2] which consisted of the Communist states of Eastern Europe.[3][4]
Until 1952, however, the lines between Communist East Germany and the western occupied zones could be easily crossed in most places.[5] Accordingly, before 1961, most of that east-west flow took place between East and West Germany, with over 3.5 million East Germans emigrating to West Germany before 1961.[6][7] On August 13, 1961, a barbed-wire barrier, which would become the Berlin Wall separating East and West Berlin, was erected by East Germany.[8]
Although international movement was, for the most part, strictly controlled, there was a steady loss through escapees who were able to use ingenious methods to evade frontier security.[9] Numerous notable Eastern Bloc citizens defected to non-Eastern Bloc countries.[10]
The following List of Eastern Bloc defectors contains notable defectors from East Germany, the Soviet Union, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Albania before those countries' conversions from Communist states in the early 1990s.
List of defections
Defector | Profession/ Prominence |
Birthplace | Year | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
George Balanchine | choreographer | Russia | 1924 | Defected during tour of Germany to Weimar Republic |
Boris Bazhanov | Politburo Secretary | Russia | 1928 | Defected to France via Iran and India |
Georges Agabekov | OGPU | Turkmenistan | 1930 | Defected in France; led the manhunt for Bazhanov before defecting |
Grigol Robakidze | author | Georgia | 1930 | Defected to Germany; primarily known for his exotic prose and anti-Soviet émigré activities. |
George Gamow | physicist | Ukraine | 1933 | First tried to kayak across the Black Sea; defected in Brussels, Belgium; later discovered alpha decay via quantum tunneling |
Ignace Reiss | NKVD | Russia | 1937 | Former head of Soviet intelligence services; assassinated by NKVD |
Walter Krivitsky | NKVD | Poland | 1937 | Defected in Paris, France after assassination of Reiss; Apparent 1941 suicide in the U.S. may have been an NKVD assassination |
Alexander Orlov | NKVD | Belarus | 1938 | Fled while stationed in Spain to avoid execution in the Great Purge |
Genrikh Lyushkov | NKVD | Russia | 1938 | Crossed the border into Manchukuo with secret documents; family arrested and sent to Gulag; several died |
Abdurakhman Avtorkhanov | author | Russia | 1942 | Sent to infiltrate anti-Soviet Chechens, he joined them instead |
Nicholas Poppe | linguist | China | 1943 | Fled with the retreating Germans to Germany, hid from the Soviets after World War II for four years; emigrated to the United States |
Victor Kravchenko | engineer | Ukraine | 1944 | Soviet engineer, witnessed horrors of Holodomor; defected when serving in the Soviet Purchasing Agency in Washington DC in the United States |
G. M. Dimitrov | politician | Bulgaria | 1945 | He was saved from execution by U.S. ambassador. He later founded anti-communist organizations. |
Géza Füster | chess | Hungary | 1945 | Defected through East Berlin with friend Pal Benko who was caught and jailed three years |
Igor Gouzenko | GRU | Russia | 1945 | He defected in Ottawa, Canada and helped uncover Communist spy rings. |
Konstantin Volkov | NKVD | Russia | 1945 | Deputy head of the NKVD in Istanbul, Turkey ; contacted the British Istanbul consulate about defection, was arrested by the Soviets and disappeared forever (possibly executed) |
Valeri Tihonovitch Minakov | Russia | 1945 | Escaped from Siberia across the Bering Sea in a small boat, with his 6 year old son Oleg. He was assisted by Eskimos of Savoonga and Gambell on St. Lawrence Island. Shortly afterward 14 Siberians arrived for "a visit" and questioned inhabitants whether they had seen a "white Russian."[11] | |
Anatoli Granovsky | MGB | Russia | 1946 | He defected in Stockholm, Sweden and wrote an autobiography. |
Jan Čep | writer | Czechoslovakia | 1948 | Defected to France; Poet friend who stayed behind jailed for 13 years for "anti-socialist thinking" |
Wolfgang Leonhard | historian | Austria | 1949 | Exiled German–Austrian communist who returned to Germany after World War II; defected via Yugoslavia; traveled to West Germany |
Nesti Josifi Kopali | chief of Albanian security service Sigurimi in Rome | Albania | 1949 | Kopali offered himself to the U.S. Embassy in Rome in late 1949, but was rejected, so he turned to Italian intelligence. After a couple of months of interrogation, he was turned over to the CIA, which flew him to Washington DC for debriefing. Kopali had, among his other anti-western assignments in 1946-47, tried and failed to set up a liaison with the editor of an ethnic newspaper in Boston. In 1950, Kopali provided some valuable information about Albanian security and military matters, but not enough for the U.S. government to offer him political asylum and resettlement in the United States. He was ultimately flown back to Germany.[12] |
Alena Vrzáňová | figure skater | Czechoslovakia | 1950 | Defected during 1950 World Championships in London, UK |
Istvan Rabovsky | ballet | Hungary | 1953 | Escaped with wife Nora Kovach to West Berlin on an East Berlin tour |
Franciszek Jarecki | pilot | Poland | 1953 | Flew MiG-15 from Słupsk, Poland to Rønne Airport on Danish island of Bornholm |
Józef Światło | UB | Poland | 1953 | Defected on a mission in East Berlin; He revealed it in broadcasts on Radio Free Europe internal struggle in the Communist Party (PZPR) and the true face of the Security Office (UB). The result of his escape was the liquidation of the Ministry of Security (MBP). |
Nikolai Khokhlov | KGB | Russia | 1953 | Refused to assassinate George Okolovich; defected in West Germany and KGB attempted to assassinate him in 1957 |
Nora Kovach | ballet | Hungary | 1953 | Escaped with husband Istvan Rabovsky to West Berlin on an East Berlin tour |
Andrzej Panufnik | composer | Poland | 1954 | Slipped Polish secret police in night time taxi chase in London, UK |
Evdokia Petrova | KGB | Russia | 1954 | Undercover KGB agent who was the wife of Vladimir Petrov; defected in Australia |
Peter Deriabin | KGB agent | Austria | 1954 | KGB Major and personnel officer who contacted U.S. intelligence in Vienna and was exfiltrated through the "Mozart Express" military train. He worked with CIA for years afterwards. |
Vladimir Petrov | diplomat | Russia | 1954 | Defected on a mission in Australia. Started the Petrov Affair |
Bela Berger | chess | Hungary | 1956 | Defected during Hungarian Revolution of 1956 to Australia |
Ferenc Puskás | football | Hungary | 1956 | Defected during the 1956–57 European Cup in Madrid, Spain |
Imre Lakatos | philosopher of science | Hungary | 1956 | Fled to Vienna, Austria, and later to Britain after the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 |
Jenő Kalmár | football | Hungary | 1956 | Defected during the 1956–57 European Cup in Madrid, Spain, and then to Switzerland |
József Mindszenty | Cardinal | Hungary | 1956 | Fled to U.S. Embassy in Budapest during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. Later moved to Austria. |
Sándor Kocsis | football | Hungary | 1956 | Defected during the 1956–57 European Cup in Madrid, Spain, and then to Switzerland |
Zoltán Czibor | football | Hungary | 1956 | Fled to Spain during Hungarian Revolution of 1956 |
Ágnes Keleti | artistic gymnast | Hungary | 1956 | Defected in Melbourne, Australia during 1956 Summer Olympics |
Christo Javacheff | environmentalist artist | Bulgaria | 1957 | He escaped from Czechoslovakia to Austria. |
Reino Häyhänen | KGB | Russia | 1957 | He defected in Paris after spending several years spying undercover in the west. |
Nicholas Shadrin | naval officer | Russia | 1959 | Defected in Sweden; later allegedly killed by the KGB |
Anatoliy Golitsyn | KGB | Ukraine | 1961 | He defected to the United States via Helsinki, Finland and Haparanda, Sweden with his wife and daughter when he was stationed in Helsinki. He made sensational claims after his defection. |
Bohdan Stashynsky | KGB | Poland | 1961 | Defected in West Berlin; assassin of Lev Rebet and Stepan Bandera before defection |
Conrad Schumann | soldier | East Germany | 1961 | Photographed jumping the Berlin Wall during construction. |
Ernst Degner | Motorcycle racer | East Germany | 1961 | Defected after the Berlin Wall was erected once he knew that his wife and two children had already escaped from East to West Germany in the trunk of a car . Degner defected (with knowledge of the loop scavenging technique developed for MZ) by driving his car from the Swedish GP to Denmark and West Germany.[13] |
Jonas Pleškys | submarine tender captain | Lithuania | 1961 | Sailed vessel to Sweden; sentenced to death; CIA hid him from USSR |
Michael Goleniewski | SB MSW | Poland | 1961 | Defected in West Germany; sentenced to death after defection; then worked for the CIA. Before he fled he spied for the CIA under the cover name Sniper, but the CIA did not know his identity until his escape |
Rudolf Nureyev | ballet | Russia | 1961 | Defected on tour in Paris |
Valentin Poénaru | mathematician | Romania | 1961 | Defected at conference in Stockholm, Sweden; known for low-dimensional topology |
Peter Fechter | bricklayer | East Germany | 1962 | He was shot trying to escape over the Berlin Wall and bled to death in the Wall's "death strip" over the course of an hour with no medical aid. |
Petr Beckmann | physicist | Czechoslovakia | 1963 | Defected as visiting professor to University of Colorado in the United States; became a proponent of libertarianism and nuclear energy |
Yuri Krotkov | KGB | Georgia | 1963 | Defected while an undercover agent in London, UK; later became a novelist |
András Törő | flatwater canoe | Hungary | 1964 | Defected in Tokyo, Japan during the 1964 Summer Olympics |
Paul Barbă Neagră | film director | Romania | 1964 | Defected in Tours, France |
Yuri Nosenko | KGB | Ukraine | 1964 | Defected in Washington, D.C., United States; for years, the CIA thought he might be a double agent |
Michael Polywka | football | East Germany | 1966 | Fled after a match in Sweden; traveled to West Germany |
Ivan Diviš | poet | Czechoslovakia | 1967 | Fled after Prague Spring to West Germany and worked for Radio Free Europe |
Svetlana Alliluyeva | Joseph Stalin's daughter | Russia | 1967 | She defected to the United States via New Delhi, India. She denounced the former regime of her late father Joseph Stalin, though she softened her criticism of him in the 1980s.[14] |
Anatoly Kuznetsov | author | Ukraine | 1968 | Defected after the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia while doing research in London to the United Kingdom |
Jan Šejna | General | Czechoslovakia | 1968 | Fled after Prague Spring to the United States. |
Miloš Forman | film director and actor | Czechoslovakia | 1968 | Defected to USA when the USSR and its Warsaw Pact allies invaded the country to end the Prague Spring; known for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest |
Vladimir Oravsky | writer | Czechoslovakia | 1968 | Fled after Prague Spring to Sweden |
Cornel Chiriac | journalist | Romania | 1969 | Defected to Austria with fake invitation |
Georgi Markov | playwright | Bulgaria | 1969 | Fled to Italy after ban on plays; assassinated in London in 1978 |
Jerzy Lewi | chess | Poland | 1969 | Defected during tournament in Athens, Greece; traveled to Sweden |
Ladislav Bittman | Czech state security, disinformation | Czechoslovakia | 1969 | Became a professor at Boston University, lecturing on disinformation and propaganda. |
Simonas "Simas" Kudirka | Soviet seaman | Lithuania | 1970 | Leaped from a Soviet ship to a United States Coast Guard ship |
Natalia Makarova | ballet | Russia | 1970 | Defected on ballet tour in London, UK; later won a Tony Award[15] |
Yuri Bezmenov | KGB propaganda agent | Russia | 1970 | Left India, his KGB station, disguised as a hippie, went to Greece, was debriefed in the United States, but refused to stay in the US because of KGB infiltration of the CIA, and was granted asylum in Canada |
Oleg Lyalin | KGB | Russia | 1971 | He defected in London, UK after being arrested in London; exposed dozens of KGB agents in London |
Ioan P. Culianu | philosopher | Romania | 1972 | Defected during lectures in Italy; suspected that Securitate later assassinated him |
Alexander Elder | author | Russia | 1974 | Jumped from a Soviet ship off the Ivory Coast on which he was working as a doctor; later traveled to the United States |
Mikhail Baryshnikov | ballet | Latvia | 1974 | Defected during tour in Toronto, Canada |
Paul Nevai | Mathematician | Hungary | 1974 | After defecting in Paris, he immigrated to the USA in 1976 |
Stanislav Kurilov | Oceanographer | USSR | 1974 | While on a "cruise to nowhere" in the open ocean, jumped into the sea and swam to the Philippine coast, many kilometers away |
Václav Nedomanský | hockey | Czechoslovakia | 1974 | Defected during a vacation in Switzerland |
Martina Navratilova | tennis | Czechoslovakia | 1975 | Defected at the 1975 US Open in the United States |
Jürgen Pahl | football | East Germany | 1976 | Fled with Norbert Nachtweih in an under-21 match in Turkey; traveled to West Germany |
Norbert Nachtweih | football | East Germany | 1976 | Fled with Jürgen Pahl in an under-21 match in Turkey; traveled to West Germany |
Viktor Belenko | pilot | Russia | 1976 | Flew a MiG-25 from Chuguyevka, Primorsky Krai to Hakodate Hokkaido, Japan. |
Viktor Korchnoi | chess | Russia | 1976 | First Soviet Grandmaster to defect; defected following a tournament in Amsterdam, Netherlands[16] |
Youri Egorov | pianist | Russia | 1976 | Fled during a tour in Rome, Italy |
Vladimir Rezun (Viktor Suvorov) | GRU / author | Russia | 1978 | GRU military intelligence, defecting to Britain while working under UN cover in Switzerland |
Arkady Shevchenko | UN Undersecretary General | Ukraine | 1978 | Spied for the U.S. for three years before defection. His wife in Moscow died two months after his defection purportedly of suicide. |
Ion Mihai Pacepa | Securitate | Romania | 1978 | He was a two-star Romanian Securitate general and personal advisor to Nicolae Ceauşescu. He defected in the American Embassy in Bonn, West Germany. He was sentenced to death twice in absentia with a $2 million bounty. Carlos the Jackal was sent to assassinate him. |
Matei Pavel Haiducu | Securitate | Romania | 1978 | He defected to France in 1981 on an industrial espionage mission. He was sentenced to death in absentia. |
Alexander Godunov | ballet | Russia | 1979 | Defected on ballet tour in New York in JFK International Airport in New York City; later became an actor, including playing one of the terrorists in Die Hard[17] |
Jörg Berger | football | East Germany | 1979 | Used a match in Yugoslavia to flee to West Germany |
Leonid Kozlov | ballet | Russia | 1979 | Defected with wife Valentina Kozlov during their company's tour in Los Angeles, United States |
Valentina Kozlova | ballet | Russia | 1979 | Defected with husband Leonid Kozlov during their company's tour in Los Angeles, United States |
Lev Alburt | chess | Russia | 1979 | Another Soviet Grandmaster to defect, to the USA, where he won the U.S. Chess Championship three times |
Ludmila Belousova | figure skater | Russia | 1979 | Defected in Switzerland |
Lutz Eigendorf | football | East Germany | 1979 | Fled during a match in West Germany. He was assassinated by Stasi as a traffic accident in 1983. |
Oleg Protopopov | figure skater | Russia | 1979 | Defected with Ludmila Belousova on tour in Switzerland |
Stanislav Levchenko | KGB | Russia | 1979 | Defected during a mission in Tokyo, Japan ; detailed KGB's Japanese spy network |
Vladas Česiūnas | sprint canoe | Lithuania | 1979 | Defected in World Championships in the Frankfurt Airport in West Germany; recaptured by the KGB[18] |
Anton Šťastný | hockey | Czechoslovakia | 1980 | Defected with brother Peter during European Cup tournament in Innsbruck, Austria |
Igor Vasilyevich Ivanov | chess | Russia | 1980 | Ran from KGB agents when his plane made an emergency stop in Gander, Canada |
Peter Šťastný | hockey | Czechoslovakia | 1980 | Defected with his wife and brother Anton during European Cup tournament in Innsbruck, Austria |
Sulamith Messerer | ballet | Russia | 1980 | sister's husband purged; defected to Britain at 72 to coach ballet |
Walter Polovchak | underage defector | Ukraine | 1980 | Fled from his parents when they were about to return to then-Soviet-republic. Granted political asylum as a naturalized U.S. citizen upon turning 18 on October 3, 1985. Was subject of lengthy political cause célèbre during those five years. |
Maxim Shostakovich | composer | Russia | 1981 | Defected on tour in West Germany with his son[19] |
Romuald Spasowski | ambassador | Poland | 1981 | Defected when Martial Law was declared in 1981. |
Ryszard Kukliński | Polish colonel | Poland | 1981 | Spied for USA for 10 years after 1970 massacre of Polish workers. Defected to United States. Sentenced to death in absentia. Later died of a stroke. Sentence was annulled in 1998 by the Polish Supreme Court. |
Vladimir Tismăneanu | political scientist | Romania | 1981 | Defected in Spain on a permitted trip with his mother to visit site of father's battles |
Yuri Bregel | scholar | Russia | 1981 | Defected to the United States; helped invigorate Central Eurasian Studies in the west |
Vladimir Kuzichkin | KGB | Russia | 1982 | Defected to a British intelligence Tehran station and then to the United Kingdom |
Gega Kobakhidze | actor | Georgia | 1983 | Hijacked Aeroflot Flight 6833; tried to defect to Turkey and was caught |
Falko Götz | football | East Germany | 1983 | Fled before a match in Yugoslavia; traveled to West Germany |
Vakhtang Jordania | conductor | Georgia | 1983 | Defected in a tour with Victoria Mullova via Kuusamo, Finland and Haparanda Sweden to the United States |
Viktoria Mullova | violinist | Russia | 1983 | Defected in a tour with Vakhtang Jordania via Kuusamo, Finland and Haparanda, Sweden to the United States |
Dariusz Janczewski | Track and Field | Poland | 1984 | Left a hotel room in the middle of the night while in Turin, Italy, at an international track meet. Spent several months in a refugee camp in Italy before relocating to the United States. |
Valdo Randpere | Deputy minister of Justice | Estonia | 1984 | Defected via Kotka, Finland to Sweden. Fled a Soviet crackdown on Estonian nationalism. |
Ladislav Pataki | sports scientist | Czechoslovakia | 1985 | Defected to US via Rome, Italy; "the highest-ranking Soviet-bloc sports scientist ever to defect to the West" |
Milan Švec | Czechoslovak Embassy, Washington DC | Czechoslovakia | 1985 | He defected in Washington DC, where he was Minister-Counselor. He later became a commentator on East-West relations. |
Oleg Gordievsky | KGB | Russia | 1985 | Defected to UK via Finland; became MI6 double agent after the Soviet 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia; sentenced to death in absentia |
Vitaly Yurchenko | KGB | Russia | 1985 | Defected in Rome, Italy; exposed two KGB/CIA double agents, Ronald Pelton and Edward Lee Howard; curiously ended up back with the KGB |
Mircea Florian | musician | Romania | 1986 | Defected in the United States on permitted visit for a performance |
Naim Süleymanoğlu | weightlifter | Bulgaria | 1986 | Defected during World Cup final in Melbourne, Australia; traveled to Turkey |
Vyacheslav Polozov | opera | Ukraine | 1986 | Defected during the Madama Butterfly singing competition in Tokyo, Japan |
Mihai Smighelschi | Air Force cadet | Romania | 1987 | Flew his Aero L-39ZA Albatross jet trainer aircraft from Buzau, Romania to near Kirklareli, Turkey, where he landed on a dirt road[20][21] |
Tamás Buday | sprint canoe | Hungary | 1987 | Defected to Canada |
Mihai Suba | chess | Romania | 1988 | Defected to UK during the 1988 Lloyds Bank chess tournament in London. |
Miodrag Belodedici | football | Romania | 1988 | Defected in Belgrade, Yugoslavia |
Aleksandr Zuyev | pilot | Russia | 1989 | Flew Mikoyan MiG-29 to Trabzon, Turkey |
Alexander Mogilny | hockey | Russia | 1989 | Defected after World Championships in Sweden |
Kalinikos Kreanga | table tennis | Romania | 1989 | Defected in Luxembourg during youth table tennis championship |
Mihai Apostol | sprint canoe | Romania | 1989 | - |
Nadia Comăneci | gymnast | Romania | 1989 | Defected weeks before the revolution to Austria |
Petr Nedvěd | hockey | Czechoslovakia | 1989 | Defected during a midget hockey tournament in Calgary, Canada |
Vladimir Pasechnik | bioweapons engineer | Russia | 1989 | Defected in Paris, France; to warn the west about USSR bioweapons. |
Gorsha Sur | ice dancing | Russia | 1990 | Defected to the United States while on tour with a Soviet troupe |
Sergei Fedorov | hockey | Russia | 1990 | Defected in Seattle, United States during Goodwill Games |
Vitali Vitaliev | author | Ukraine | 1990 | Became a regular on BBC TV in the United Kingdom |
Defections after 1991
Defector | Profession/ Prominence |
Birthplace | Year | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Kanatjan Alibekov | bioweapons chief | Kazakhstan | 1992 | Former director of Biopreparat; defected to United States |
Stanislav Lunev | GRU | Russia | 1992 | Defected to the United States; revealed KGB weapons caches in the west |
Vasili Mitrokhin | KGB | Russia | 1992 | Defected in Riga, Latvia, to British Embassy; Archivist who was shocked by records of Soviet political repression |
Sergei Tretyakov | SVR; Foreign Intelligence Service (Russia) | Russia | 2000 | Defected in New York City to CIA.; Deputy Resident Station Chief in New York City; Revealed many political and intelligence secrets from the New Russia; sudden death in Sarasota County, Florida, on June 13, 2010; his death has been associated with allegations of foul play |
See also
Notes
- ^ Dowty 1989, p. 69
- ^ Dowty 1989, p. 114
- ^ Eastern bloc, The American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005.
- ^ Hirsch, Donald, Joseph F. Kett, James S. Trefil, The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy',' Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2002, ISBN 0-618-22647-8, page 230
- ^ Dowty 1989, p. 121
- ^ Mynz 1995, p. 2.2.1
- ^ Senate Chancellery, Governing Mayor of Berlin, The construction of the Berlin Wall Archived 2014-04-02 at the Wayback Machine states "Between 1945 and 1961, around 3.6 million people left the Soviet zone and East Berlin"
- ^ Pearson 1998, p. 75
- ^ Turnock 1997, p. 19
- ^ Krasnov 1985, p. 2
- ^ ALASKA magazine June 1971, and July 1972, articles by Frank J. Daugherty
- ^ G.S. Trice, Specialist/4, Dossier Number H8047134, U.S. Army Investigative Records Repository, 7 March 1974: contains such CIC records of Nesti Josifi Kopali as IDENTIFICATION F-2542 (11 Jan 1952), D-296877 (1 Nov 1951), File II-5092 (14 June 1951 - 18 Sept 1951). While these documents are the only known paperwork available to the public, various government officials active during the early 1950s acknowledged knowing about Kopali and some of his zany behavior.
- ^ TEAM SUZUKI by Ray Battersby (2008) Parker House Publishing ISBN 0-9796891-5-5
- ^ "Sovietologist Leopold Labedz, who met her in 1968, first noticed it in 1981: "She was getting soft on papochka." Once she had acknowledged Stalin's personal responsibility for the death of millions; now she called him a prisoner of Communist ideology. Her new book contained hardly any criticism of her father. She probably felt she had betrayed him. "My father would have shot me for what I have done", she often said during her final year in Britain." Patricia Blake, Time, 28 January 1985
- ^ Natalia Makarova Dances Again With the Kirov. The New York Times, August 8, 1988
- ^ Raymond Keene. Viktor Korchnoi: Fearless Competitor of World Chess. Chessville.com
- ^ Turmoil on the Tarmac. TIME Magazine, September 3, 1979
- ^ KGB Kidnapping. TIME Magazine, October 22, 1979
- ^ Russians Call Defection Of Shostakovich 'Personal'. The New York Times, April 28, 1981
- ^ http://adevarul.ro/news/eveniment/evadare-comunism-avionul-vanatoare-1_50ad7dc37c42d5a6639627eb/index.html
- ^ http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2006/Jul/04/venable-freedom-flight/
References
- Böcker, Anita (1998), Regulation of Migration: International Experiences, Het Spinhuis, ISBN 90-5589-095-2
- Council of Europe (1992), People on the move: new migration flows in Europe, Council of Europe, ISBN 92-871-2021-8
- Dowty, Alan (1989), Closed Borders: The Contemporary Assault on Freedom of Movement, Yale University Press, ISBN 0-300-04498-4
- Dowty, Alan (1988), "The Assault on Freedom of Emigration", World Affairs, 151 (2)
- Krasnov, Vladislav (1985), Soviet Defectors: The KGB Wanted List, Hoover Institution Press, ISBN 0-8179-8231-0
- Mynz, Rainer (1995), Where Did They All Come From? Typology and Geography of European Mass Migration In the Twentieth Century; EUROPEAN POPULATION CONFERENCE CONGRESS EUROPEAN DE DEMOGRAPHE, United Nations Population Division
- Pearson, Raymond (1998), The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Empire, Macmillan, ISBN 0-312-17407-1
- Pollack, Detlef; Wielgohs, Jan (2004), Dissent and Opposition in Communist Eastern Europe: Origins of Civil Society and Democratic Transition, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., ISBN 0-7546-3790-5
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