Lyushkov, Genrikh Samoilovich

(1900–1945)

   One of the first Soviet defectors, Lyushkov joined the Cheka in 1919 before his 20th birthday, and was assigned to a frontline infantry division. Lyushkov rose quickly in the service, and in 1938 he was serving as NKVD chief in the Far East. Fearing that he was about to become a victim of his own service, Lyushkov defected to the Japanese on 6 June 1938. For the next several years, he worked for the Japanese military. Following the Soviet invasion of Manchuria in August 1945, Lyushkov was shot by a Japanese officer and buried in a grave as a member of the Japanese military.