The High-Profile Americans Who Defected to Putin's Russia

Tara Reade, the former political staffer who alleges President Joe Biden sexually assaulted her in 1993, announced she had moved to Russia where she "felt safe," and is seeking Russian citizenship, during an interview with the state-run Sputnik International network on Wednesday.

In April 2020, Reade filed a complaint with the Washington Metropolitan Police Department, alleging Biden had penetrated her with his fingers without consent 30 years ago, after pushing her against a Senate corridor wall. Biden has denied the allegation "unequivocally," adding: "It never, never happened."

Reade's move shines a light on the rare, but not insignificant, phenomenon of Americans choosing to move to Russia or seek its citizenship in the era of Russian President Vladimir Putin. This replicates the defection of some U.S. citizens to the Soviet Union during the Cold War, often motivated by communist sympathies.

Newsweek has provided a summary of some of the most prominent Americans who moved to Putin's Russia, examining their motives and how they transitioned to a very different society.

Tara Reade

Reade briefly worked for Biden as a campaign assistant in Washington, D.C., from December 1992 to August 1993.

On one day, in 1993, Reade alleges, she was told to deliver a bag to the future president in the Capitol Hill complex. Speaking to CNN, she alleged that, after finding Biden, he "had me up against the wall; he used his knee to spread open my legs," then "put his fingers inside me."

In 2020, Biden insisted the reported assault "never happened," adding: "Responsible news organizations should examine and evaluate the full and growing record of inconsistencies in her story, which has changed repeatedly in both small and big ways."

On Wednesday, Reade appeared alongside Maria Butina, who in 2018 was convicted of acting as an unregistered foreign agent in the U.S.

She commented: "I am going to make a request and it's a large one: I'd like to apply for citizenship in Russia from the president of the Russian federation, Vladimir Putin, and hopefully Maria can help me from the State Duma.

"I do promise to be a good citizen and move forward with my life in a positive way."

Edward Snowden

In 2013, while working as an intelligence contractor in Hawaii, Snowden leaked more than 7,000 top-secret documents, revealing details of U.S. and British intelligence operations, including the National Security Agency collecting phone records from millions of Verizon customers in the U.S.

Snowden was charged with espionage by the Department of Justice, then fled from Hong Kong to Moscow. Initially the ex-contractor was limited to the airport for a month, as U.S. authorities had canceled his passport, after which he was given temporary asylum by Russian authorities. This was repeatedly extended until 2020, when permanent residency was granted.

In September 2022, Snowden was granted Russian citizenship, for which he originally applied in November 2020, claiming he feared being separated from his family in an era of "closed borders."

After the news was announced, Snowden tweeted: "After years of separation from our parents, my wife and I have no desire to be separated from our SONS.

"After two years of waiting and nearly ten years of exile, a little stability will make a difference for my family. I pray for privacy for them—and for us all."

Steven Seagal

Action movie star Steven Seagal, who specialized in direct-to-video films during the 1990s, became one of the most outspoken supporters of Putin during the 2010s.

In March 2014, he described the Russian president as "one of the great living world leaders," and later that year expressed support for the Russian annexation of Crimea, after it was seized by Russian troops.

Seagal was granted Russian citizenship in 2016, and later appointed as a "special envoy" for his adopted country to the U.S.

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Seagal traveled to the country's east, in an area under control of the Kremlin-backed Donetsk People's Republic. According to TASS, a state-run Russian news agency, the actor was making a documentary about the war.

In February 2023, Putin awarded Seagal Russia's Order of Friendship, claiming he had made a "major contribution to the development of international cultural and humanitarian cooperation."

John McIntyre

Former U.S. soldier John McIntyre joined Ukraine's International Legion after the Russian invasion in 2022, before defecting to Moscow's side in February 2023.

Speaking to Russian state broadcaster RT, he claimed he initially joined the Ukrainians to spy on them, adding he brought "papers, files, intelligence and maps" with him when he quit.

Explaining his reasoning, he said: "When I came to Ukraine, I knew that I would try to get as much information as I could, anything that would be helpful, and defect across lines.

"I'm a communist, I'm an anti-fascist, and we have to fight fascism everywhere."

The Russian state accuses the Ukrainian government of being inspired by Nazi ideology, an accusation the Ukrainians reject as nonsense.

Update 04/08/2023 5.20 a.m. ET: This story has been update to change phrasing.