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Author POV – Viktor Belenko, Hero or Traitor?Miguel Vargas-Caba | August 27, 2008 | 8 comments | Print | E-mail  Armchair General Magazine Immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Belenko was sometimes hailed as a hero. In September 1976, Lt. Viktor Belenko defected from the Soviet airbase at Chuguyevka, Siberia, to a civilian airport in Hakodate, Japan. In his defection he brought to the West the best fighter the Soviets had managed to produce up to that time, the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 Foxbat, along with its pilot’s manual. Immediately after landing, he requested and obtained political asylum in the United States. (Editor’s note: The Japanese government limited the U.S. to ground tests of the MiG’s radar and engines. The plane was then disassembled and returned to the USSR on a Japanese ship.) In his book MiG Pilot, the Final Escape of Lieutenant Belenko (McGraw-Hill 1980), John Barron, using the manuscript Belenko provided him, exposed in detail the reasons that moved Lt. Belenko to defect to the "adversary." Among the reasons given was the absurd life that common Soviet citizens were forced to live in those days, the so-called "years of Brezhnev’s stagnation." There were constant shortages of everything imaginable, from major food staples such as meat and sausages to toilet paper. When such items were available, citizens had to form kilometric lines to purchase them. As an elite fighter pilot, Lt. Belenko had access to many articles that were beyond the reach of the common citizen, such as meat and other food items (but not even he had access to toilet paper; old issues of Pravda was used). It was not so much the scarcity of those articles that pushed him to defect, however; it was what he considered to be the obvious discrepancy between the promises of the Soviet communist system and the reality of life under it. All the promises the system made for a better life were accessible only to a select few members of the Nomenklatura in the upper echelons of Soviet life. Another point of contention for him was the apparent contradictions between what Soviet propaganda fed their citizens about the West and the achievements Western society produced. In Belenko’s own words: "If they were so bad, how come they could send a man to be moon and bring him back? If they are falling apart right now, how come they’re producing better fighters than ours and have more Nobel Prize winners than we do?" Immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Belenko was sometimes hailed as a hero for having escaped the totalitarian oppression of the Soviet regime in a bold and daring way, but after 2004 he was once again vilified as a traitor to Rodina, "Mother Russia." His detractors accuse him of having been "recruited" by the CIA while still in fighter pilot school, and of defecting solely for monetary gain, namely, the promise of U.S. $100,000 given to all those who defected to the West bringing with them a fighter plane. My questions are: Is the old adage "once a traitor always a traitor" true? Is one who betrays a totalitarian regime a traitor or a hero? By defecting with a Mig-25 Belenko betrayed the Soviet Union; is he therefore a traitor to "Mother Russia?"
Post a comment below to offer your answers to these questions. After two weeks, we’ll post the author’s own POV on the answers. Help Armchair General by bookmarking to
            Tags: 20th century warfare, Historical Figures
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8 Comments to “Author POV – Viktor Belenko, Hero or Traitor?”
I suppose that by definition, Belenko is a traitor. An abstract question that I would ask of Mr. Belenko is; given the opportunity, would you defect from the U.S.? Regardless of what label is put on him,he is a human being. He was an opportunist, he had an advantage not many other Russians had and he had access to something that he knew the west wanted and were willing to pay for. He used it for personal gain and a new life. This story is similar to Lt. Kim of North Korea who defected with a Mig during the Korean War, is he a traitor? By definition, yes? Have either of these men behaved other than honorably since their defection? Did America benefit from the action of these two men and their membership in our society?
Viktor Belenko, as with Mr. Kim, believed, but wasn’t quite sure of what he was getting himself into, if he succeeded. He was absolutely certain, however, of what lay in store should he fail. Whatever the lable, it took an exceptional amount of courage.
By Mike Higgins on Aug 28, 2008 at 9:05 am
The stigma of traitorous activity really only has meaning depending on the side with which you place your own allegiance. The Russians no doubt cursed Belenko’s name (although they tried to keep up a front that he had lost his way, and some did turn him into a hero for a time), but to America he had become a “friend” and advisor, working in the Military Academy for several years. Having been given a life which probably suited him quite well, he would have no reason to defect back to Russia, or any other country.
A classic example of the mixed nature of the concept of treachery would be the character of Benedict Arnold during our own American Rebellion. He was a traitor to the British Crown when he fought for the rebellion, greatly aiding in the defeat of Burgoyne at Saratoga. He then went back to the British side and became a traitor to the Colonial cause. The British never really took him seriously, but how could they when he had so gallantly worked in favor of Colonial independence, besides the fact that he was not a very likeable fellow. However, they did give him a command and he ravaged Virginia for a time.
I believe the feature of Russian pilots defecting from their government is a statement of the unsatisfying system that they are forced to endure. Belenko writes, “It has always been a hard task in Russia to find tasty tinned goods. But in the USA I bought different tinned foods every day, and they were all very good. Once I bought a tin where was written Dinner and fried its content with potatoes, onions and garlic – it was delicious. Next morning my friends told me that I had eaten tinned chicken for cats. But it was delicious!” I don’t remember any point in history where the West Berliners were excited to jump the wall and enter the luxury of Eastern Germany. Belenko was exposing his dislike for Russian government, and risking death in the process, to gain for himself what he felt would be far better, and which turned out to be just that. The Russian ambassador in Japan, upon meeting with Belenko, informed him that they “knew he had lost his way and was forced to land on the island” (and with only seconds of fuel remaining in his MIG), but Belenko would not play the game, and the ambassador ensured him they would find him, no matter where he tried to hide.
The concept of treachery really only has meaning depending on the side upon which you stand. Indeed our entire national character is founded upon such “treacherous” circumstances. After all, was General George Washington a traitor, or a hero?
By Gerald P. Illies on Sep 5, 2008 at 6:53 pm
Hero
He was being true to higher principles of honesty. He figured out
that he and millions of Russians was being lied to and enslaved.
He began to hate the system that strips personal initiative and
individual and group exceptionalism. He hated Slavery. (The
Russian mafia ruled the place and still does.)
His defection caused a strategic re-alignment within the Soviet
Union that cost them billions. By the 1980’s the United States was
able to negotiate against the Soviet Union from a position of
strength. Eventually the Soviet Union collapsed.
By his act of defection and gift of the Mig 25, Viktor Belinko was
ultimately and in part instrumental in freeing many of his
countrymen and ending The Cold War.
Living conditions in Russia have not turned better for the masses
today, but the old Soviet Bloc countries, Estonia, Latvia,
Lithuania, Poland, East Germany, Ukrane, Georgia, and Eastern
Europe — are all much better off without the Soviet Union being
able to completely dominate them. Totalitarian Communism
suffered a great blow when the USSR failed.
Unfortunately, America has become more comfortable with
Socialism and Communism. It appears America is beginning by
incrementalizm to adopt policies that also strip personal initiative
and individual and group exceptionalism. I believe the next four
to eight years will be very telling. Will America become
Communist? If so, it will be ONE PARTY and will eventually
become Totalitarian.
For the sake and hope of all humanity all Americans and
soveriegn people should root out the false principals and
propaganda s of Socialism and Communism, find the best in our
system and help the whole world to do the same.
By Gray Champion on Nov 8, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Shortly before he defected, Viktor’s wife Ludmila demanded a divorce and planned to take their 4-year-old son Dmitri to live with her parents in Magadan, and Viktor figured that her Party connections would protect the family from what he was about to do. Does anyone know what became of them? Did Dmitri ever get in touch with his father? Did Viktor marry and start another family in the US?
By Dave Coffin on Dec 10, 2008 at 9:10 pm
In response to Mr. Coffin’s request about Viktor Belenko’s wife, Lyudmila, I found an interview made to her by the Russian newspaper “Komsomolskaya Pravda” on 09-26-2006. She today works as manager of a children’s nursery in the Kuban Region of Russia. Neither her nor Dmitry ever got in touch again with Viktor after his defection. He did get married to an American music teacher, with whom he had 2 children, but later the couple divorced.
By Miguel Vargas-Caba on Jan 14, 2009 at 7:53 pm
“Komsomolskaya Pravda is the KGB propaganda machine. Only an idiot will believe in its stories/interviews. Belenko’s relatives live in Canada. Only God knows how many wives and children he have had during his life time. New York Times is claiming that he worked for the CIA since 1974. The Russian cosmonavt Igor Volk does support this claim. John Barron wrote “Mig Pilot”. But he did not give any credit to Viktor Belenko regarding to the contribution to this book. Perhaps it is another fiction. But it is John Barron’s book.
Interview with Victor Belenko is pure fabrication . It has being done to support the sale of Barron’s books. For the legal protection from potential law suits the first name Victor was used with the letter “C”. The real first name Belenko is Viktor with letter “K”. The big question is this, ‘WHY DIDN’T VIKTOR BELENKO WRITE HIS OWN BOOK?”
By Pete Markov on Apr 17, 2009 at 5:58 pm
Does anyone know how to get in touch with Mr. Belenko? I just read John Barron’s book, and realized that Mr. Belenko is about 63 years old now and probably still living.
By DrWMPottenger on Jul 7, 2009 at 7:42 am
Actually Mig Pilot was killed in a small plane crash about 10 years ago. He used to attend EAA Oshkosh where he made presentations about soviet military aviation.
By Igor Shutov on Jul 28, 2009 at 11:40 am