A Brief History
On June 29, 1974, famed ballet dancer with the Kirov Ballet, Mikhail Baryshnikov, defected from the USSR while on tour in Canada. Baryshnikov went on to great success in ballet in the US, while branching into dramatic acting and television as well, with an estimated net worth today of about $45 million.
Digging Deeper
Baryshnikov is not the only Soviet citizen to defect to the West in order to seek more freedom and opportunities and today, we list some other such famous defectors.
In 1961, Rudolf Nureyev, possibly the greatest male ballet dancer, defected while in Paris, going on to continue his stellar career in the Western world.
Svetlana Alliluyeva, the daughter of Soviet dictator, Josef Stalin, defected while in India to the US in 1967.
In 1976, MiG-25 pilot Victor Belenko, flew his new, cutting edge Soviet fighter jet to Japan to defect to the West, while presenting his jet as a rare gift to US intelligence.
Note: Many other Soviets defected to the US or the West in general, from athletes to scientists, entertainers, artists, chess players, military personnel, political and intelligence officers, and even a UN Undersecretary General, Arkady Shevchenko, who spied for the US before defecting in 1978.
Question for students (and subscribers) to ponder: Who is the most famous defector?
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Glassman, Bruce. Giants of Art & Culture – Mikhail Baryshnikov. Blackbirch Press, 2001.
Scott, Erik. Defectors: How the Illicit Flight of Soviet Citizens Built the Borders of the Cold War World. Oxford University Press, 2023.
The featured image in this article, a young Svetlana Stalina being carried by her father in 1935, is in the public domain in Russia according to article 1281 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, articles 5 and 6 of Law No. 231-FZ of the Russian Federation of December 18, 2006 (the Implementation Act for Book IV of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).
This usually means that one of the following conditions is fulfilled.
- The author of this work died:[1]
- (a) before January 1, 1942 or
- (b) between January 1, 1942 and January 1, 1946, did not work during the Great Patriotic War and did not participate in it.
- This work was originally published anonymously or under a pseudonym:
- (a) before January 1, 1943 and the name of the author did not become known during 50 years after publication, counted from January 1 of the year following the year of publication, or
- (b) between January 1, 1943 and January 1, 1946, and the name of the author did not become known during 70 years after publication, counted from January 1 of the year following the year of publication.
- This work is a film (a video fragment or a single shot from it):
- (a) which was first shown before January 1, 1943[2] or
- (b) which was created by legal entity between January 1, 1929 and January 1, 1946, provided that it was first shown in the stated period or was not shown until August 3, 1993.
- This work is an information report (including photo report), which was created by an employee of TASS, ROSTA, or KarelfinTAG as part of that person’s official duties between July 10, 1925[3] and January 1, 1946, provided that it was first released in the stated period or was not released until August 3, 1993.
This work is in the public domain in the United States, because it was in the public domain in its home country (Russia) on the URAA date (January 1, 1996), and it wasn’t re-published for 30 days following initial publications in the U.S.
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