American Soldiers and Military Defectors Who Sought Refuge in Russia
American Soldiers and Military Defectors Who Sought Refuge in Russia
The idea of an American soldier leaving the United States and seeking protection or a new life in Russia may sound unusual, especially during periods when Washington and Moscow have been political and military enemies.
But history records several cases of Americans connected to the U.S. military who travelled to the Soviet Union or Russia, sought to remain there, or were granted asylum.
However, there is an important fact to understand: there are not ten well-documented American soldiers who can accurately be described as seeking asylum in Russia. Claims suggesting that there were ten such soldiers often mix together soldiers, former intelligence officers, ordinary American citizens and people whose stories were never independently confirmed.
Here are some of the best-documented cases.
1. Lee Harvey Oswald
One of the most famous Americans to seek refuge in the Soviet Union was Lee Harvey Oswald.
Oswald had served in the U.S. Marine Corps for about three years. In 1959, after leaving the Marines, he travelled to the Soviet Union.
When he arrived in Moscow, Oswald made it clear that he did not simply want to visit the country. He wanted to stay.
He requested Soviet citizenship and indicated that he wanted to give up his American citizenship.
Historical records show that Oswald asked Soviet authorities to allow him to remain in the country for political reasons. He described himself as a communist and said he wanted to become a Soviet citizen.
The Soviet authorities initially rejected his request. Oswald became extremely distressed and attempted suicide in his Moscow hotel room.
The Soviets eventually allowed him to remain in the country. He later lived in Minsk, where he worked and married Marina Prusakova.
Oswald returned to the United States in 1962.
His name became internationally famous after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in November 1963. The Warren Commission concluded that Oswald was responsible for Kennedy's assassination and acted alone.
The National Archives contains extensive documentation about Oswald's time in the Soviet Union.
2. Wade E. Roberts
Another documented case occurred nearly three decades later.
In 1987, U.S. Army soldier Wade E. Roberts was reported to have defected to the Soviet Union while stationed in West Germany.
Soviet officials announced that Roberts and his West German wife had been granted asylum by the Soviet government.
Roberts was identified by U.S. officials as a private first class and a wire repair technician with the 79th Field Artillery.
According to contemporary reports, Soviet authorities said the couple feared being victimized because of their political views.
The case attracted considerable attention because it was described at the time as the first known defection of an American serviceman to the Soviet Union since the Vietnam War.
Roberts later became unhappy with life in the Soviet Union and returned to the United States.
His story is therefore very different from the idea of an American soldier permanently joining Russia. He sought asylum, lived there for a period and eventually went back to America.
3. Glenn Michael Souther
Glenn Michael Souther was another American with a military background who ended up in the Soviet Union.
Souther was a former U.S. Navy serviceman and had served in an intelligence-related role. Reports said he had held special security clearances and had access to sensitive information during his military career.
He disappeared in 1986 and later surfaced in the Soviet Union.
In 1988, Soviet authorities granted him asylum.
Unlike a simple case of an American tourist deciding to live abroad, Souther's story was particularly sensitive because of his previous connection to U.S. military intelligence.
American authorities were investigating his disappearance and possible espionage-related issues.
Soviet authorities presented his asylum request as a case involving alleged persecution by U.S. authorities.
The case became one of the more serious American defections to the Soviet Union during the final years of the Cold War.
4. Gordon Black — a modern case, but not an asylum case
Gordon Black's name sometimes appears in online discussions about Americans in Russia, but his case should not be described as an asylum defection.
Black was an active-duty U.S. Army staff sergeant who travelled to Russia in 2024 while returning from South Korea.
According to the U.S. Army, Black was supposed to return to his home base in Texas but instead travelled through China to Vladivostok for personal reasons.
He was arrested in Russia following a dispute involving his girlfriend.
A Russian court later convicted him of theft and threats, and his prison sentence was subsequently reduced.
Therefore, Black belongs in discussions about American soldiers who became involved with the Russian legal system, but not on a list of American soldiers who sought political asylum in Russia.
5. Joseph Tater — another American in Russia, but not a soldier
Joseph Tater is another case that is sometimes mixed into stories about Americans seeking protection in Russia.
Tater travelled to Russia and became involved in a criminal case after an alleged confrontation with a police officer in Moscow.
At one point, he reportedly claimed that he had travelled to Russia to seek political asylum and alleged that he was being persecuted by the CIA.
However, Tater was not an American soldier.
That distinction matters because an article claiming that he was a U.S. serviceman would be inaccurate.
His case demonstrates how easily different stories involving Americans in Russia can become mixed together online.
Why there are not 10 confirmed American soldiers
The Cold War produced many stories about Americans disappearing behind the Iron Curtain.
There were also investigations into reports that American prisoners of war had been transferred to Soviet territory during or after conflicts in Korea and Vietnam.
The United States and Russia even established a joint commission to investigate the fate of missing American servicemen in the former Soviet Union.
But missing soldiers, alleged prisoners, defectors and people who voluntarily moved to the Soviet Union are not the same thing.
The U.S.-Russia Joint Commission on POW/MIAs investigated American servicemen who were unaccounted for in the former Soviet Union and examined records involving World War II, Korea and Vietnam.
There were also claims that American prisoners had been secretly transported to Soviet territory. Some of those claims remained unconfirmed, while investigations continued through the 1990s and beyond.
For example, Russian officials provided information about American servicemen who had been captured or detained during earlier conflicts, but this did not establish that ten American soldiers voluntarily sought political asylum in Russia.
Russia and America have a complicated defection history
The stories of Oswald, Roberts and Souther happened during very different periods.
Oswald's case occurred at the height of the Cold War, when the United States and Soviet Union were ideological enemies.
Roberts defected in 1987, only a few years before the Soviet Union collapsed.
Souther received asylum in 1988, during another period of intense intelligence competition between Washington and Moscow.
Modern cases such as Gordon Black are different again because Russia and the United States now have a deeply strained relationship, particularly following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The historical record therefore shows that Americans have indeed travelled to the Soviet Union or Russia seeking to remain there, and some had military backgrounds.
But it does not support the claim that ten American soldiers have been confirmed as seeking asylum in Russia.
The bottom line
The most accurate way to tell this story is to separate confirmed cases from allegations.
Lee Harvey Oswald was a former U.S. Marine who sought Soviet citizenship and asylum in 1959.
Wade E. Roberts was a U.S. Army soldier who received Soviet asylum in 1987 before eventually returning to America.
Glenn Michael Souther was a former U.S. Navy serviceman who received Soviet asylum in 1988.
Other Americans, including Gordon Black and Joseph Tater, have travelled to Russia and become involved in major legal or political controversies, but their stories should not be presented as confirmed cases of American soldiers seeking asylum.
That distinction is important because the subject is already surrounded by Cold War myths, intelligence allegations and unverified claims.
Rather than inventing seven additional names to reach a list of ten, the historical evidence is stronger when the confirmed cases are presented honestly.
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