Defection

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"Defector" redirects here. For other uses, see Defector (disambiguation).
For the song, see Defection (song).

A Soviet Lavochkin La-7 fighter aircraft, that crash-landed in Sweden after being
flown there by a defecting pilot, May 1949
In politics, a defector is a person who gives up allegiance to one state in
exchange for allegiance to another, changing sides in a way which is considered
illegitimate by the first state.[1] More broadly, it involves abandoning a person,
cause, or doctrine to which one is bound by some tie, as of allegiance or duty.[2]
[3]

This term is also applied, often pejoratively, to anyone who switches loyalty to
another religion, sports team, political party, or other rival faction. In that
sense, the defector is often considered a traitor by their original side.[4][5]

Contents
1 International politics
2 Notable defectors
2.1 Artists
2.2 Athletes
2.3 Military
2.4 Other
3 See also
4 Further reading
5 References
6 External links
International politics

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A memorial to those who died trying to cross the Berlin Wall stood for ten months
in 2004 and 2005 near Checkpoint Charlie.
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, or working with allied militia, usually do not violate
any law(s).

For example, in the 1950s, East Germans were increasingly prohibited from traveling
to the western Federal Republic of Germany 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 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 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the other hand, the GDR citizenship of some "inconvenient" East Germans was
revoked, and they had to leave their home on short notice against their will.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, were prohibited from returning to the GDR.

East German border guard Conrad Schumann jumping the border in 1961
During the Cold War, the many people illegally emigrating from the Soviet Union or
Eastern Bloc to the West 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, who defected to the USSR to avoid exposure as a KGB
mole, and 22 Allied POWs (one Briton and twenty-one Americans) who declined
repatriation after the Korean War, 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.

Entire militaries can defect and choose not to follow orders from a state's
leaders. During the Arab Spring protests, militaries in Egypt and Tunisia refused
orders to fire upon protesters or use other methods to disperse them.[6][7] 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.[6]

Notable defectors
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.[8] 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.
Rudolf Nureyev, Soviet (Russian) dancer, who defected while in Paris touring with
the Kirov Ballet in 1961.[9]
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.
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.
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.[10]
Military
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.
Ion Mihai Pacepa, a Romanian Securitate general who defected to the United States
from the Socialist Republic of Romania in 1978.
Genrikh Lyushkov, the NKVD chief in the Russian Far East, defected to Manchukuo in
1938 under Great Purge and then cooperated with Imperial Japanese Army.
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.[11]
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.[12]
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.[13]
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.
Matiur Rahman, a Pakistani pilot who in 1971 attempted to defect with a T-33
aircraft to India to join the Bangladesh Liberation War. Flt.Lt Rashid Minhas, also
on board the plane struggled with him to control the plane, which crashed killing
both pilots.
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.
Lee Harvey Oswald, assassin of President John F. Kennedy claimed defection to the
Soviet Union in October 1959 but was ultimately refused citizenship and returned to
the United States in 1962.
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.
Other
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.
Viktor Korchnoi, Russian chess Grandmaster, defected in Amsterdam in 1976.
Kim Philby, British intelligence officer and member of the Cambridge Five, defected
to the Soviet Union in 1963.
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.
Viktor Suvorov (born 1947), 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.[citation
needed]