Editing Defection (section)

===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 [[Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25|MiG-25]] fighter to Japan in 1976 and gained [[political asylum]] in the United States.<ref>Dowling, Stephen [http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20160905-the-pilot-who-stole-a-secret-soviet-fighter-jet The Pilot Who Stole A Secret Soviet Fighter Jet September 5, 2016] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170218032738/http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20160905-the-pilot-who-stole-a-secret-soviet-fighter-jet|date=February 18, 2017}} ''[[BBC]]'' Retrieved August 24, 2017</ref>
* [[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]].<ref name="nmusaf">"[http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=1918 Factsheets: Story of the MiG-15] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130922173131/http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=1918|date=2013-09-22}}." National Museum of the United States Air Force.</ref>
* {{ill|Maxim Kuzminov|ru|Кузьминов, Максим Германович}}, 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.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://edition.cnn.com/2023/09/04/europe/russian-helicopter-pilot-defects-ukraine-intl/index.html | title='Let's give it a try,' recalls Russian pilot who defected to Ukraine in his military helicopter | date=4 September 2023 }}</ref>
* [[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]], [[Ukrainians|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 [[Assassination of John F. Kennedy|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 [[Romania]]n [[Securitate]] general who defected to the United States from the [[Socialist Republic of Romania]] in 1978.
* [[Matiur Rahman (military pilot)|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.<ref>{{cite web |title=Pakistan Army |url=https://pakistanarmy.gov.pk/Pilot-Officer-Rashid-Minhas.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200912111147/https://pakistanarmy.gov.pk/Pilot-Officer-Rashid-Minhas.php |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 12, 2020 }}</ref>
* [[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.<ref>{{cite book| author = Professor Ben Kiernan| title = The Pol Pot Regime: Race, Power, and Genocide in Cambodia Under the Khmer Rouge, 1975-79| year = 2008| publisher = Yale University Press| isbn = 978-0-300-14434-5 }}</ref>
* [[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.{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}}