Rudolf Khametovich Nureyev (Tatar: Rudolf Xämät ulı Nuriev, Russian: Рудольф Хаметович Нуриев) (March 17, 1938 – January 6, 1993) was a Tatar dancer from the Soviet Union, primarily known for his work in ballet.

He defected despite KGB efforts. According to KGB archives studied by Peter Watson, Nikita Khrushchev personally signed the order to kill Khametovich.

Nureyev was born on the Trans-Siberian train near Pysinky Irkutsk, Siberia, Soviet Union, while his mother Farida was travelling to Vladivostok, where his father Hamat, a Red Army political commissar was stationed . He was raised as the only son in a Tatar family in a village near Ufa in Soviet republic of Bashkiria. When his mother smuggled him and his sisters into a performance of the ballet "Song of the Cranes", he fell in love with dance. As a child he was encouraged to dance in Bashkir folk performances and his precocity was soon noticed by teachers who encouraged him to train in Leningrad. On a tour stop in Moscow with a local ballet company, Nureyev auditioned for the Bolshoi ballet company and was accepted. However, he felt that the Kirov Ballet school was the best, so he left the local touring company and bought a ticket to Leningrad.