On June 25 , 1960 , Mitchell and Martin left the U.S. for Mexico . They traveled from there to Havana and then sailed on a Russian freighter to the Soviet Union . On August 5 , the Pentagon announced that they had not returned from vacation and said : " there is a likelihood that they have gone behind the Iron Curtain . " On September 6 , 1960 , they appeared at a joint news conference at the House of Journalists in Moscow and announced they had requested asylum and Soviet citizenship . '' The New York Times '' described them as " long-time bachelor friends " and reported they smiled at each other only when they described the social advantages they anticipated in the Soviet Union , where , their prepared statement said : " The talents of women are encouraged and utilized to a much greater extent in the Soviet Union than in the United States . We feel that this enriches Soviet society and makes Soviet women more desirable as mates . " During the conference , the defectors made public for the first time the mission and activities of the NSA in a prepared statement written , they said : " without consulting the Government of the Soviet Union " . It said that : " the United States Government is as unscrupulous as it has accused the Soviet Government of being " . They also said : They particularly attacked the views of General Thomas S. Power who had recently told a Congressional committee that the U.S. needed to maintain a nuclear first-strike capability and Senator Barry Goldwater 's opposition to banning nuclear tests and negotiating a disarmament treaty . By contrast , they said : " we would attempt to crawl to the moon if we thought it would lessen the threat of an atomic war . " The U.S. had recently admitted sending reconnaissance flights over foreign countries in recent years , but Martin and Mitchell said they knew from their Navy service that such flights had occurred as early as 1952 – 1954 . They detailed a U.S. C-130 flight over Soviet Armenia that the Soviets brought down . They contended that it was designed to gain an understanding of Soviet defenses , and that it therefore represented an American interest in attacking the Soviets rather than defending against them . They also complained of restrictions on freedom in the U.S. , such as government confiscation of mail , particularly the freedom of those who are " not theists " or " whose political convictions are unpopular "
U.S. C-130 flight
1958 C-130 shootdown incident
Martin and Mitchell defection