List of Commonwealth of Independent States defectors

The following is a list of defectors from the Commonwealth of Independent States. The Commonwealth is an intergovernmental organization formed after the dissolution of the Soviet Union as its legal successor. This list of defectors is not to be confused with Soviet defectors.

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Defector	Profession/ Prominence	Birthplace	Year	Notes
Kanatjan Alibekov	Bioweapons chief	Kazakhstan	1992	Former director of Biopreparat; defected to the United States
Stanislav Lunev	GRU agent	Russia	1992	Defected to the U.S.; revealed the existence of KGB weapons caches in the West
Vasili Mitrokhin	KGB agent	Russia	1992	KGB archivist who was shocked by records of Soviet political repression; defected in Riga, Latvia to the British embassy
Sergei Tretyakov	SVR agent	Russia	2000	Defected in New York City to the CIA; Deputy Resident Station Chief in New York City; revealed many political and intelligence secrets from Russia; sudden death occurred in Sarasota County, Florida, on June 13, 2010; foul play has been alleged
Alexander Litvinenko	FSB agent	Russia	2000	Exposed crimes ordered by Russian president Vladimir Putin; defected in London, United Kingdom; assassinated
Denis Sharonov	Former agriculture minister of the Komi Republic	Russia	2022	Defected to the U.S. via Kyrgyzstan, the United Arab Emirates, and Mexico to avoid conscription in the Russian Army following the invasion of Ukraine, which he blamed on his falling out with officials of the regional government^[1]
Maksim Kuzminov	Pilot	Russia	2023	Attack pilot of the 319th Separate Helicopter Regiment of the Eastern Military District;^[2] defected to Ukraine in a Mi-8AMTSh helicopter during the Russian invasion^[3]

See also