Genrikh Lyushkov | |
---|---|
Генрих Люшков | |
Born | 1900 |
Died | August 19, 1945 | (aged 45)
Cause of death | Execution by shooting |
Nationality | Ukrainian |
Spouse | Inna Lyushkova |
Children | 1 |
Far Eastern Commander of the NKVD[1] | |
In office 31 July 1937 – 13 June 1938 | |
Preceded by | V. A. Balitsky |
Succeeded by | M. M. Zapadny |
Genrikh Samoilovich Lyushkov (Russian: Генрих Самойлович Люшков; 1900 – 19 August 1945) was an officer in the Soviet secret police and its highest-ranking defector. A high-ranking officer of the NKVD, he played a role in perpetrating Stalin's Great Purge. When, in 1938, he suspected he would soon fall victim to the purge, he fled to Japan. Thereafter, he acted as a major source of intelligence for Imperial Japan about the Soviet Union. At the end of World War II, he was killed by the Japanese in order to prevent him from falling back into Soviet hands.[2]