The first group of Soviet intelligence officer defectors included sixteen men who broke with their intelligence or state security employer beginning in 1924, when Petr Mikhailovich Karpov became the first known Soviet intelligence officer defector. It extends to 1930, when defectors and their revelations became a vexing problem for the Soviet Union, prompting new laws that threatened stronger consequences for anyone who refused to return home. Eleven held positions in the civilian state security organisation. The remaining five were affiliated with the Intelligence Directorate of the Red Army Staff (Razvedupr), which was responsible for collecting intelligence about foreign military capabilities and exporting Soviet-style revolution in support of the Communist International (Comintern) International Relations Department (Отделение Международных Связей; OMS). The careers of these defectors cover the period beginning with the genesis of Soviet intelligence organisations in 1917 up to 1930.

At least half of these defectors had been affiliated with Soviet state security from the earliest years of the ChK. In December 1917, Lenin directed Feliks Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky to form an ‘extraordinary commission’ (чрезвычайная комиссия; ChK) to fight counterrevolutionary activities and to curb criminality that proliferated while the Bolshevik Party consolidated its power over the former Russian empire. The ChK, later called an All- Russian Extraordinary Commission (Всероссийская чрезвычайная комиссия; VChK) used a combination of mass arrests, intimidation, and military-style actions to root out anti-Bolshevik elements and to defeat tsarist forces during the Russian civil war that lasted until 1921. These actions laid the foundation on which Soviet state security and intelligence activities rested throughout the history of the Soviet Union. Even today, Russian intelligence and security services celebrate ‘Chekists’ Day, formally called Security Service Workers’ Day, on 20 December each year to commemorate the 1917 founding of the ChK.

Soviet intelligence officer defectors up to 1930 represented a mix of mid-level functionaries and senior-level officers and reflected diversity of backgrounds, the countries to which they defected, targets they were assigned to pursue, and their motivations for defecting. However, despite this diversity, their revelations show some rough trends regarding Soviet priorities and internal struggles during the 1920s.