History Main / DefectorFromCommieLand

* In the ''Literature/ModestyBlaise'' short story "The Giggle-Wrecker", spy chief Tarrant asks Modesty and Willie to take on the job of smuggling a Soviet defector across the Berlin Wall, as he has no agents in place except sleepers he doesn't want to activate if it can be avoided. [[spoiler:They succeed; the defector turns out to be Communist agent whose fake defection was a deliberate attempt to force Tarrant to activate the sleepers so they could be identified by the Soviets.]]

[[quoteright:350:[[Film/TheHuntForRedOctober https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hunt_for_red_october.png]]]

* This happens a couple of times in the ''Red Alert'' series:
** In the Allied campaign of [[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert the first game]], one of the missions involves rescuing a Soviet general who is opposed to Stalin's methods and wishes to defect to the West. He later provides valuable intelligence on Stalin's plan to nuke the major cities of Europe.
** In both the Allied and Imperial campaigns of [[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert3 the third game]], Dr. Zelinsky defects to the Allies and brings with him the information about the timeline-messing actions he and Cherdenko did in making Albert Einstein {{Retgone}} and the subsequent rise of the Empire.

* Inverted with Katia Waldheim from ''{{LightNovel/Schwarzesmarken}}'', a Bundeswehr [[Main/HumongousMecha TSF]] pilot who defects from West Germany to East Germany at the start of the series.

* Inverted with Katia Waldheim from ''{{LightNovel/Schwarzesmarken}}'' who is a West German Bundeswehr [[Main/HumongousMecha TSF]] pilot defecting to East Germany.

* After the collapse of the Soviet Union, this trope continues to be played straight by people who manage to get out of UsefulNotes/NorthKorea. One of the more famous North Korean defectors in recent years is Shin Dong-hyuk, whose experience is recounted in the book ''Escape from Camp 14''. Even after they get out of North Korea, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKYqtKZ_8eA the struggles of North Korean defectors are not over]]. Another very dramatic North Korean example was captured on camera [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbNLHDBKlaM in December 2017]] when KPA soldier Oh Chong-song crashed a jeep to try to make it across the border, ran across on foot, and was shot by four other KPA soldiers before South Korean and American troops were able to rescue him. One of the pursuing KPA soldiers actually briefly ran across the border to the South Korean side [[OhCrap before realizing what he'd done]] and hastily running back to the North Korean side.

* [[https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/china-spy-defector-flee-australia-12119492 In November 2019]], a Chinese spy named Wang Liqiang defected to Australia, and claimed he had been part of operations to disrupt and influence elections in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Australia as well as an operation to kidnap bookstore owners in Hong Kong for distributing materials damaging to the Chinese government.

* After the collapse of the Soviet Union, this trope continues to be played straight by people who manage to get out of UsefulNotes/NorthKorea. One of the more famous North Korean defectors in recent years is Shin Dong-hyuk, whose experience is recounted in the book ''Escape from Camp 14''. Even after they get out of North Korea, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKYqtKZ_8eA the struggles of North Korean defectors are not over]]. Another very dramatic North Korean example was captured on camera [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbNLHDBKlaM in December 2017]] when KPA soldier Oh Chong-song crashed a jeep to try to make it across the border, ran across on foot, and was shot by four other KPA soldiers before South Korean and American troops were able to rescue him. One of the pursuing KPA soldier actually briefly ran across the border to the South Korean side [[OhCrap before realizing what he'd done]] and hastily running back to the North Korean side.

* Post-Cold War, this trope continues to be played straight by people who manage to get out of UsefulNotes/NorthKorea. One of the more famous North Korean defectors in recent years is Shin Dong-hyuk, whose experience is recounted in the book ''Escape from Camp 14''. Even after they get out of North Korea, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKYqtKZ_8eA the struggles of North Korean defectors are not over]].
* Several Cuban baseball players have defected from their home country in order to play professionally in the United States, something which picked up in TheNineties following TheGreatPoliticsMessUp as Cuba's economy suffered greatly without Soviet help. Among the most well-known are Liván and his half-brother Orlando Hernández, Aroldis Chapman, Yoenis Céspedes, and Yasiel Puig.

* The'Asylum' episode from ''Series/BarneyMiller'' has a Soviet ballet dancer trying to defect to the detectives at the station.

* The'Asylum'episode from ''Series/BarneyMiller'' has a Soviet ballet dancer trying to defect to the detectives at the station.

* Svetlana Alliluyeva, daughter of Josef Stalin.

* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert'': In the Allied campaign, one of the missions involves rescuing a Soviet general who is opposed to Stalin's methods and wishes to defect to the West. He later provides valuable intelligence on Stalin's plan to nuke the major cities of Europe.

* The ''Company Man'' is about a man who pretends to be a {{CIA}} agent to gain the respect of his in-laws. But a high-profile Soviet dancer decides to defect and approaches the the man believing his lies. The CIA actually make him an agent just so they can get the credit and send him somewhere quiet...UsefulNotes/{{Cuba}}.

* ''Film/{{Condorman}}'''s main plot is set off by the HighHeelFaceTurn of {{KGB}} spy Natalia, who falls for the eponymous dashing top-secret agent during a courier mission. She's unaware that he's really a comic book writer who convinced his {{CIA}} friend to let him take the mission as a way to prove that he can [[IJustWantToBeBadass actually]] ''[[IJustWantToBeBadass be]]'' [[AscendedFanboy Condorman]]. HilarityEnsues as they are chased all over Eastern Europe by Natalia's former boss and his murderous goons.

* Inverted in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', where a ballet teacher is such a hardass that he defects ''to'' East Germany.

This will sometimes entail them actually traversing the UsefulNotes/IronCurtain, but it doesn't have to... they could already be in the West and have to slip their SecretPolice minders. The WarsawPact states were acutely aware of the potential for defection and those in government, entertainment or sport were usually barred from taking their families with them when going overseas i.e. so the families could be held hostage against them coming back; if they did flee, the family would be subject to some pretty intense hardship. This can add an extra complication to the plot as the heroes will also need to retrieve the defector's family.

* Colonel Oleg Gordievsky is the highest-ranking [[MoscowCentre KGB]] agent to defect from the Soviet Union. He became a double agent in the 1970's and passed on information to [=MI6=] while working for the Soviet embassy in Copenhagen and later in London. He was suddenly recalled back to Moscow in May 1985, where he was interrogated for hours on suspicion of espionage. He was released but knew he had tight counter-spy surveillance and felt it was only a matter of time before he'd incriminate himself and signaled the British for help - they were able to smuggle him out to Finland and eventually the UK. He now has a death sentence on him by the Soviet government which the Russian government hasn't rescinded.

* Also common in ''Series/MacGyver''. Notably in an early episode when Mac smuggles ''himself'' out hidden in a casket that transforms into a jet ski.

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* Martina Navrátilová, world famous tennis player. Defected in 1975 while in New York for the US Open.

* Several Cuban baseball players have defected from their home country in order to play professionally in the United States, something which picked up in TheNineties following TheGreatPoliticsMessUp as Cuba's economy suffered greatly without Soviet help. Among the most well-known are Liván and his half-brother Orlando Hernández, Aroldis Chapman, Yoenis Céspedes, and Yasiel Puig.