Genrikh Samoilovich Lyushkov (Russian: Генрих Самойлович Люшков; 1900 – 19 August 1945) was an officer in the Soviet secret police and its highest-ranking defector.

When the Cheka was disbanded and reformed into the GPU (the Государственное политическое управление НКВД РСФСР or "State Political Directorate"), Lyushkov rose even further.

Around 1930,[7] he carried out an industrial espionage assignment in Germany, where he monitored activities within the Junkers aviation company, bringing him the favour of Joseph Stalin.

This success led to his working again within the USSR, now as a member of the NKVD (the Народный комиссариат внутренних дел or "People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs").

"[9] When he was given the post, he was, according to a later interview with Japanese military officials, given personal orders to aid in elimination of specific officials as a part of the Great Purge: Vsevolod Balitsky (the former NKVD chief in the Far East, whom Lyushkov was replacing), Vasily Blyukher (a Marshal of the Soviet Union), and Albert Yanovich Lapin (the Far East Air Corps Commander).

[7] Prompted later by his Japanese interrogators, Lyushkov gave one of the earliest explanations of the circumstances of the Great Purge, arguing that he had been merely appeasing Stalin and that he had no choice but to carry out his orders.

The plan was for Inna to embed a secret codeword into a telegram, which would signal to Lyushkov that it was safe for him to leave the Soviet Union.

He was the highest-ranking secret police official to defect; he also had the greatest inside knowledge about the purges within the Soviet Red Army because of his own participation in carrying them out.

Lyushkov's intimate knowledge of NKVD procedures and the way Stalin's guard detail would be organised encouraged the Japanese to support the plan.

[5] Lyushkov was able to detail strength of the Red Army in the Far East, Siberia and Ukraine, simultaneously providing Soviet military radio codes.

He was considered highly intelligent and dedicated,[13] producing great volumes of written material,[14] but there was some uncertainty about his ability to provide useful information specific to military operations.

The staff of the Imperial Japanese Army had concerns, however, about his psychological state, especially pertaining to the status of his wife and daughter, about whom he had heard no news since his defection.

[16] After Germany's capitulation, Lyushkov was sent on 20 July 1945 to work for the Japanese Kwantung Army's Special Intelligence authorities in the puppet state of Manchukuo.