- Yuri Nosenko
Lt. Col. Yuriy Nosenko was a KGB defector who became a figure of significant controversy within the U.S. intelligence community. His case was documented in the Family jewels documents, and handled by CIA officer George Kisevalter. - Anatoliy Golitsyn
Anatoliy Mikhaylovich Golitsyn CBE (born August 25, 1926 in Piryatin, Ukrainian SSR) is a Soviet KGB defector and author of two books about long-term deception strategy of the KGB leadership. He supplied information about many important Soviet agents working in the West. He is an Honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) and is now an American citizen. - Arkady Shevchenko
Arkady Nikolayevich Shevchenko (October 11, 1930 - February 28, 1998), a Ukrainian Soviet diplomat, was the highest-ranking Soviet official to defect to the West. Shevchenko joined the diplomatic service of the Soviet Union as a young man and rose through the ranks of the Soviet Foreign Ministry, becoming advisor to Andrei Gromyko, Minister for Foreign Affairs. In 1973 he was appointed Under Secretary General (USG) of the United Nations. - Igor Gouzenko
Igor Sergeyevich Gouzenko (January 13, 1919, Rogachev, Soviet Union - June 28, 1982, Mississauga, Canada) was a cipher clerk for the Soviet Embassy to Canada in Ottawa, Ontario. He defected on September 5, 1945 with 109 documents on Soviet espionage activities in the West. Gouzenko's defection exposed Joseph Stalin's efforts to steal nuclear secrets, and the then-unknown technique of planting sleeper agents. - Vasili Mitrokhin
Vasili Nikitich Mitrokhin (March 3 1922-January 23, 2004) was a Major and senior archivist for the Soviet Union's foreign intelligence service, the First Chief Directorate of the KGB, and co-author with Christopher Andrew of "The Mitrokhin Archive: The KGB in Europe and the West", a massive account of Soviet intelligence operations based on copies of material from the archive. Work on the second volume, "The Mitrokhin Archive II: The KGB in the World", … - Vitaly Yurchenko
Vitaly Yurchenko (b. 1936) was a KGB agent in the Soviet Union. In 1985, after twenty-five years of service in the KGB, he defected to the United States during an assignment in Rome. In the following interrogations by the CIA, he accused two American agents of working for the KGB, Ronald Pelton and Edward Lee Howard. While Pelton was later convicted, Howard fled the US before he could be questioned. - Viktor Korchnoi
Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi (Ви́ктор Льво́вич Корчно́й), born March 23, 1931, in Leningrad, USSR, is a professional Swiss chess player and currently the oldest active grandmaster on the world tournament circuit. Korchnoi is best known for playing three matches against Anatoly Karpov for the World Chess Championship. In 1974, he lost the Candidates final to Karpov, who went on to win the World championship by forfeit against Bobby Fischer). - Viktor Suvorov
Vladimir Bogdanovich Rezun (born April 20, 1947), better known by the pen name Viktor Suvorov is a Russian writer and historian. He served in the Soviet Army and worked in Soviet military intelligence (GRU). He deserted and escaped to the United Kingdom in 1978 where he worked as an intelligence analyst and lecturer. He made his name writing books about Russian History, the Soviet Army, GRU, and Spetsnaz. - Mikhail Baryshnikov
Mikhail Nikolaevitch Baryshnikov (b January 27, 1948) is a Russian dancer, choreographer, and actor. He is often called the world's greatest living male ballet dancer. Critic Clive Barnes once called him "the most perfect dancer I have ever seen" - Boris Spassky
Boris Vasilievich Spassky (also Spasskij) (born January 30, 1937) is a Russian-French chess grandmaster. He was the tenth World Chess Champion, holding the title from 1969 to 1972. Spassky won the Soviet Championship twice outright (1961, 1973), and twice more lost in playoffs (1956, 1963), after tieing for the top during the event proper. He was a World Championship Candidate on seven occasions (1956, 1965, 1968, 1974, 1977, 1980, and 1985). - Stanislav Lunev
Stanislav Lunev (born 1946 in Leningrad) is the highest-ranking GRU officer to defect from Russia to the United States. He was born in the family of a Soviet Army officer. He graduated from the Suvorov Military School in Vladikavkaz, and then from Joint Arms High Command Military Academy, a Soviet equivalent of United States Military Academy. He then worked as a GRU intelligence officer in Singapore in 1978, in China from 1980, and in the United States from 1988. - Rudolf Nureyev
Rudolf Nureyev, a Tatar ballet dancer, is regarded as one of the greatest male dancers of the 20th century, alongside Vaslav Nijinsky and Mikhail Baryshnikov. - Victor Kravchenko
Victor Andreevich Kravchenko, (11 October 1905 Yekaterinoslav - 25 February 1966) was a Soviet defector who wrote up his experiences of life in the Soviet Union and as a Soviet official, especially in his 1946 book "I Chose Freedom". Born into a family of revolutionaries, Kravchenko became an engineer and worked in the Don basin region. He joined the Communist Party in 1929. - Viktor Belenko
Viktor Ivanovich Belenko is an American aerospace engineer and lecturer of Russian origin. Belenko was a pilot with the 513th Fighter Regiment of the Soviet Anti-Air Defense based in Chuguyevka, Primorsky Krai. His name became known worldwide on September 6th, 1976 when he successfully defected to the West, flying his MiG 25 "Foxbat" to Hakodate, Japan. This was the first time that Western experts were able to get a close look at the aircraft, … - George Balanchine
George Balanchine was an American ballet choreographer of Georgian descent. Balanchine is one of the 20th century's foremost choreographers, and one of the founders of American ballet. His work formed a bridge between classical and modern ballet. - Boris Yuzhin
Boris Yuzhin (born February 21, 1942) is a former Soviet spy. He was a mole in the KGB, spying for the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the 1970s and 1980s before being caught and imprisoned. Yuzhin was assigned by the KGB to monitor student activities under the cover of a Tass correspondent. In 1978 he began working for the FBI. He revealed the existence of the KGB's Group North, … - Alexander Alekhine
Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhine (sometimes spelled "Aljechin or Alechin") (October 31 or November 1, 1892 - March 24, 1946) was a Russian-born naturalized French chess grandmaster (officially naturalized in 1927 only three days before the World Champion title), and the fourth World Chess Champion. He was known for his fierce and imaginative attacking style. - Alexander Godunov
Aleksandr Borisovich Godunov (Russian: Александр Борисович Годунов, 28 November, 1949, Sakhalin, USSR — 18 May, 1995, Los Angeles, California) was a Russian ballet dancer and actor, whose defection caused a diplomatic incident between the USA and the USSR. He joined the Bolshoi Ballet in 1971 and rose to become premier dancer before defecting to the USA in 1979. After briefly dancing with the American Ballet Theatre, … - Edmar Mednis
Edmar John Mednis (1937-February 13, 2002) was an American chess International Grandmaster (awarded in 1980), born in Riga, Latvia. - Alexander Zuyev
Alexander Zuyev (1961 - June 10, 2001) was a captain of the former-Soviet Air Defense Force (VVS) who piloted his Mikoyan MiG-29 to Trabzon, Turkey on May 20, 1989. According to Soviet/Russian record, Zuyev was a good pilot and was thus selected as a test pilot and the aircraft he had flown was not limited to fixed-wing aircraft: he had also flown rotary aircraft such as Mil Mi-24. Zuyev was married to the daughter of the chief-of-staff of the air division at age of 25, … - Viktoria Mullova
Viktoria Mullova is a Russian violin virtuoso. Mullova has become highly regarded for her performances and recordings of a number of great violin concertos, compositions by J.S. Bach, and her innovative interpretations of popular and jazz compositions by Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, The Beatles, and others. After studying at the Central Music School of Moscow and at the Moscow Conservatoire under Leonid Kogan, … - Fedor Bogatyrchuk
Fedor Parfen'evych Bogatyrchuk was a Ukrainian-Canadian International Master of chess, and an International Master of correspondence chess. He also was a doctor of medicine and a political activist. - Povilas Vaitonis
Povilas (Paul) Vaitonis (15 August 1911, in Užpaliai, Lithuania – 23 April 1983, in Hamilton, Canada) was a Lithuanian–Canadian International Master of chess. He was a five-time Lithuanian champion, and was twice Canadian champion. - Anatoly Kuznetsov
Anatoly Vasilievich Kuznetsov was a Russian language Soviet writer who described his experiences in German-occupied Kiev during WWII in his internationally acclaimed novel "Babi Yar: A Document in the Form of a Novel". The book was originally published in a censored form in 1966 in Russian language. - Vladimirs Petrovs
Vladimirs Petrovs or Vladimir Petrov was a Latvian chess master. Learning the game relatively late, at age 13, Vladimirs Petrovs made rapid progress. By 1926, at age 19, he had improved enough to win the Riga Championship and finish 3rd in the national championship. He placed 2nd–5th, behind Isakas Vistaneckis, in the first Baltic Championship 1931 at Klaipeda. In 1931 Petrovs won a match with Movsas Feigins (+4 –1 =3), … - Oleg Protopopov
Oleg Alekseyevich Protopopov (b. June 16, 1932, in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), Russia is a Russian-born figure skater. With his partner Ludmila Belousova, Protopopov won two gold medals in pairs at the Olympic Winter Games in 1964, in Innsbruck, Austria, and 1968, in Grenoble, and four World Championships in 1965, 1966, 1967 and 1968. In September 24, 1979, while Protopopov was touring in Europe, … - Georges Agabekov
Georges Agabekov Armenian (1896-1937?), was a Red Army soldier, Chekist, GPU Agent, OGPU Agent, Chief of OGPU Eastern Section, and defector. Agabekov joined the Cheka in at the end of 1920. He participated in the Red Terror at Ekaterinburg and in the suppression of a peasant revolt in Tyumen. Because he spoke Persian and Turkish, Agabekov was brought to Moscow in October 1921 to join the Oriental Section of the Cheka. - Alexander Mogilny
Alexander Gennadevit Mogilny born on February 18, 1969, in Khabarovsk, USSR (now Russia) is a professional ice hockey player. His most common nickname was "Alexander the Great" (coined by Sabres broadcaster Rick Jeanneret) but he has sinced passed that down to Russian Phenom Alexander Ovechkin. Ovechkin later said in an interview how he was honored to be receiving the nickname of one of his boyhood heroes. - Grigol Robakidze
Grigol Robakidze (–) was a Georgian writer, publicist, and public figure primarily known for his exotic prose and anti-Soviet émigré activities. He was born on October 28, 1882, in the village of Sviri, Imereti (west Georgia), then Kutaisi Guberniya of the Russian Empire. After the graduation from Kutaisi Gymnasium, he took courses at the University of Tartu (Estonia) and the University of Leipzig (Germany). - Abdurakhman Avtorkhanov
Abdurakhman Genazovich Avtorkhanov, also known by the pen name Alexander Uralov was a Chechen historian, nationalist, and Soviet-era dissident. - Karlis Ozols
Kārlis Ozols was a Latvian-Australian chess player. Ozols represented Latvia at eighth board (+7 -1 =7) in unofficial Chess Olympiad at Munich 1936 where he won individual bronze medal. He also played at fourth board (+2 -5 =3) in the 7th Olympiad at Stockholm 1937. In 1937, he tied for 17-18th in Kemeri. The event was won by three players: Salo Flohr, Vladimirs Petrovs and Samuel Reshevsky. In 1939, he took 16th in Kemeri-Riga (Flohr won). - Alexander Vasiliev
Alexander Alexandrovich Vasiliev was considered the foremost authority on Byzantine history and culture in the mid-20th century. His "History of the Byzantine Empire" (vol. 1-2, 1928) remains one of a few comprehensive accounts of the entire Byzantine history, on the par with those authored by Edward Gibbon and Fyodor Uspensky. Vasiliev studied under one of the earliest professional Byzantinists, Vasily Vasilievsky, … - Vladimir Mikhaylovich Petrov
Vladimir Mikhaylovich Petrov (15 February, 1907 - 14 June, 1991) was a member of the Soviet Union's clandestine services who became famous in 1954 for his defection to Australia. - Alexander Elder
Alexander Elder, M.D., is a professional stock trader, living in New York. He is the author of "Trading for a Living" and the "Study Guide for Trading for a Living", both best-selling and well known among traders. First published in 1993, these books have been translated into Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, and Russian. - Ludmila Belousova
Ludmila Yevgenyevna Belousova is a Russian figure skater. She trained at VSS Lokomotiv and competed internationally for the USSR. With her partner Oleg Protopopov, she won the World Figure Skating Championships pair skating competition four times (1965-1968). On September 24, 1979 while Belousova was touring in Europe, she defected with her pairs partner Oleg Protopopov. In Switzerland, they applied for political asylum. She currently lives in Switzerland. - Alexander Kazhdan
Alexander Petrovich Kazhdan (born September 3, 1922, Moscow; died May 29, 1997, Washington, D.C.;) was one of the foremost Byzantinists of the late 20th century. - Leho Laurine
Leho Laurine (Leo Laurentius) was an Estonian chess master. He was an Estonian Champion in 1932 (4th EST-ch), and took 3rd in 1935, behind Paul Keres, and Gunnar Friedemann (7th EST-ch). In 1930s, he played in Estonian Club championships. In 1930 he won team silver medal, with Nedsvedski, Rootare and Karring. In 1931 and 1938, he won two team gold medals, respectively with Villard, Karring, and Vladimirs Petrovs, and with Paul Felix Schmidt, Johannes Türn, Kalde, … - Alexey Selezniev
Alexey (Alex) Selezniev (Selesniev, Selesniew, Selesnev) was a Russian chess master. Selezniev was born into a wealthy merchant Russian family, and was a graduate from Moscow University's law faculty. He played in a number of pre-revolutionary tournaments at the Moscow Chess Club. He tied for 8-10th at Vilna 1912 (7th RUS-ch, B tourn, Karel Hromadka won). In 1913, he tied for 1st-2nd, tied for 4-5th, and tied for 5-6th in Moscow. - Elmārs Zemgalis
Elmārs Zemgalis a Latvian-American chess master. After the Soviets second time invaded his native Latvia, Zemgalis fled to Germany. As a D.P. (Displaced Person) after WW II he played in twelve international tournaments. In 1946, he took 2nd, behind Wolfgang Unzicker, in Augsburg. In 1946, he took 2nd, behind Fedor Bohatirchuk, in Regensburg ("Klaus Junge Memorial"). In 1947, he took 2nd, behind Lūcijs Endzelīns in Hanau ("Matisons Memorial"). - Józef Światło
Józef Światło was a high-ranking official of the Ministry of Public Security of Poland (deputy director of 10th Department). After the death of Stalin and the arrest of Lavrentiy Beria in 1953, afraid for his own life, he defected to the West on 5 December of that year in Berlin. This event shook the Polish United Workers' Party, caused the reform of the Polish security apparatus and was one of the factors leading to the liberalization of the Polish October.
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