Artists •
Paquito D'Rivera, Cuban saxophonist and clarinetist, who defected to the United States in 1980. •
Mikhail Baryshnikov,
Soviet (Russian) dancer, who defected to
Canada in 1974, while in
Toronto, touring with the
Kirov Ballet. He later moved to the
United States. •
Natalia Makarova, Soviet (Russian) dancer, who defected while in London in 1970. •
Georgi Markov, Bulgarian author, who defected in 1968, eventually settling in London, England, later assassinated. •
Rudolf Nureyev, Soviet (Russian) dancer, who defected while in
Paris touring with the
Kirov Ballet in 1961. •
George Balanchine, Georgian
choreographer, who defected to the
Weimar Republic in 1924. •
Arturo Sandoval, 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, Cuban
professional boxer, who defected to the United States in 2009. •
Aroldis Chapman, Cuban
baseball pitcher, who defected to Andorra in 2009 before signing a
Major League Baseball contract in 2010. •
Ernst Degner, East German
Motorcycle racer, who defected to West Germany in 1961 •
José Fernández, Cuban
baseball player, who defected to the United States in 2008. •
Lutz Eigendorf, an East German
football player for
BFC Dynamo who defected to
West Germany in 1979. •
Orlando Hernandez, Cuban
baseball pitcher, who defected to the United States in 1997. •
Nadia Comăneci, Romanian Olympic gymnast, who defected to the United States in 1989. •
Martina Navratilova, Czechoslovak tennis player, who defected to the United States in 1975. •
Alexander Mogilny, Soviet (Russian)
ice hockey forward, who defected to the United States in 1988. He was the first Soviet player to defect to play in the
NHL. •
Béla Károlyi and his wife
Márta Károlyi,
Romanian
gymnastics coaches (of
Nadia Comăneci and
Mary Lou Retton among others), who defected to the United States in 1981. •
Osvaldo Alonso, Cuban
soccer player, who defected to the United States in 2007. •
José Abreu, Cuban baseball player, who defected to the United States in 2013. •
Kimia Alizadeh, 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, Belarus sprinter, who defected to Poland in 2021.
Military •
Larry Allen Abshier, 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. •
Benedict Arnold‚ a colonial general who during the
American Revolutionary War defected to the
British Army. •
Riad al-Asaad, founder of the
Free Syrian Army and the entire Tlass Family during the
Syrian civil war. •
Viktor Belenko, a
Soviet Air Force lieutenant who flew a
MiG-25 fighter to Japan in 1976 and gained
political asylum in the United States. •
James Joseph Dresnok, a
US Army private who defected to
North Korea 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, 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 in the
North Korean Air Force during the
Korean War who defected to
South Korea. On September 21, 1953, he flew his
MiG-15 to the
Kimpo Air Base in South Korea, claiming that he wanted to get away from the "red deceit" and is often associated with
Operation Moolah. • , former Russian military pilot-navigator of the Mi-8AMTSh military transport helicopter. During the Russian-Ukrainian War, on August 9, 2023, he flew across the front line to the Ukrainian side as part of the special
Operation Synytsia, prepared by the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry. •
Genrikh Lyushkov, the
NKVD chief in the
Russian Far East, defected to
Manchukuo in 1938 under the
Great Purge and then cooperated with the
Imperial Japanese Army. •
Ivan Mazepa,
Ukrainian Hetman of Zaporizhian Host from 1687–1708 who defected from the
Russian Empire to the
Swedish Empire during the
Battle of Poltava of the
Great Northern War. •
Lee Harvey Oswald, the later
assassin of President John F. Kennedy had claimed defection to the
Soviet Union in October 1959 but was ultimately refused citizenship and returned to the United States in 1962. •
Ion Mihai Pacepa, a
Romanian
Securitate general who defected to the United States from the
Socialist Republic of Romania 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 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 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 defected to
Vietnam during the
Khmer Rouge purges of the Eastern Zone after considering the fate of
So Phim, his superior in command. •
Samson Makintsev (1740–1849), a sergeant of the
Russian Empire who deserted to
Qajar Iran and became a general in the Persian military, becoming the commander of the
Bogatyr battalion, a Persian military battalion made up of Russian deserters, during the reign of
Abbas Mirza. •
Travis King, a US Army private who defected to North Korea, possibly to avoid facing a dishonorable discharge and legal charges, in 2023. North Korea would later return him to American custody.
Politics •
Guy Burgess, British diplomat and member of the
Cambridge Five, 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, British intelligence officer and member of the Cambridge Five, defected to the Soviet Union in 1963. •
Hun Sen, Khmer Rouge battalion commander and later Prime Minister of Cambodia (1998–2003), defected to Vietnam in 1977. •
Viktor Suvorov, Russian writer and former Soviet military intelligence officer who defected to the United Kingdom in 1978. •
Thae Yong-ho, a former
North Korean 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
2020 for the
United Future Party, representing the Gangnam A district of
Seoul. •
Vladimir Petrov, Soviet diplomat who defected to Australia in 1954.
Others •
Viktor Korchnoi, 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 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 Soviet crew of the
oil tanker Tuapse, held hostage in 1954 by the government of
Taiwan during the
White Terror. 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 to
Hokkaido, a distance of about 20 kilometers, in 23 hours. •
Yeonmi Park is a
North Korean defector and activist whose family fled from North Korea to China in 2007. •
Oh Chong-song is a North Korean defector who was shot 5 times by North Korean soldiers for crossing the
Military Demarcation Line, he was rescued by South Korean soldiers. ==See also==