000042346 Zeading Soviet mevspapera and journals Dave recently begun publishing an increasing number of articles and news reports on sightings of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) in various areas of the Soviet Union. A' "permanent center" for the study of t1FOs has been established in Moscow to conduct research and support the investigation of reported sightings. Setting the tone fox this aedia coverage vas an article in the 9 July 1989 SOTSIALISTICHBSKAYA INDUSTRiYA, which referred to many recent reports of UFO sightings in the USSR. Interviewed by the paper, P. Prokopenko, director of a laboratory for the study of "anomalous phenomena," stated that a "permanent center" for the study of UFOs is being established in the Soviet Union. In addition to conducting research and presenting lectures on UFOs, the center will support the investigation of reported sightings. In referring to an issue of the paper published in July 1988 that included a report on "an amazing event that took place on BiII 611 near the village of Dalnegorsk in Primorskiy 1Cray," the article noted that the event is still under investigation. Many observers saw a flying sphere crash into one of the hill's twin peaks, and physicists and other scientists from the Siberian Division of the USSR Academy of Sciences are still studying the "fine mesh," "small spherical objects," and "pieces of glass" that are considered to be small remnants left behind by the sphere. According to the article, the alleged spacecraft vas nearly obliterated in the crash, but there appew*~ to be enough material at the site for the scientists--a mixture of UFO *enthuaiasts* and skeptics-to eventually "penetrate this aystery." In studying the site, scientist A. Makeyev reported finding gold, silver, nickel, alpha-titanium, molybdenum, and compounds of beryllium. One of the "skeptical" physicists from Tomsk has hypothesised that the so- callad sphers could have been some kind of a "plasmaid," formed by the "interaction of geophysical force fields," which captured the elements found by 1lakeysv from the atmosphere on its trajectory toward disintegration oL the hilltop. Other researchers have generally rejected this explanation since the awouata of various types of metals found at the site would iaply, according to this "piasmoid" theory, that "the concentration of metals in the atmosphere should exceed the present level by a factor of 4,000." Approved !or ite~~s? Date auc 91 000042346 Some of the scientists have concluded that the object that crashed into Hill 611 vas an "extraterrestri~" space vehicle constructed by highly intelligent beings. Doctor of esical Sciences v. vysotskiy stated that "without doubt, this is evidence of a high technology, and it is not anything of a natural or terrestrial origin." He cited the fact that the remnants of fine scab included bits of thin meads with a diameter of only 17 sicrons and that these threads, in turn, were composed of even thinner strands twisted into braids. Extremely thin sold wires were discovered intertwined in the finest threads--evidence of an intricate technology beyond the present capabilities of terrestrial science, according to vysotakiy. 50TSULISTIt~8S1CAYA II~DUSTRITA of 25 July 1989 reported that a OFO sighting had been classed by engineer Yuriq Ponosarmko and a stoup of workers at a collective faro in the Dnepropetrovsk region. The object was described as a disk with two beams of light emanating from its sides. The witnesses saintaine~ that they bad observed the object on the ground for about 20 minutes, and that it witted na sound when it flee away. The August 1989 issue of the Soviet journal NAUKA I ZHIZN included a 9-page article which, after summarizing the history of LIFO-sightings-in ----- general, contrasted sole of the views of the "skeptics" with some of the opinions of the "enthusiasts" on the numerous reported UFO sightings in the USSR, including incidents in Serpukhov, Petrozavodsk, and Rudpya. According to the "enthusiasts," UPOs have Ieft evidence of their visits on many occasions, including the 5erpukhov incident in which, they claim, a UFO Ieft a circular depression in the grass with a diameter of A meters. The skeptics maintaip that Bost of this so-called "evidence" can be explained as having no connection with extraterrestrial intelligence. luny of the sightings could be attributed to rocket testing, for example. Academician Vladimir vaailyevich Migulin, director of the Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionosphere, and Radio Vave Propagation Institute in Troitsk, which has a section for the investigation of anomalous phenomena in the atmosphere, maintains that over 90 percent of UFO sightings can be nullified by such aundane explanations. STROITSLNAYA GAZETA of 16 September 1989 reported that in August a group of observers including physical scientist Blvir 1Curchenko began investigating :pother circular depressed area in a forest near Surgut after ?a' worker ~elaimed that a .UFO bad visited the Site: ~? - ~~ - - . SoTSIALISTIC~SRAYA IPDUSTRIYA of 30 September 1989 noted that media all over the Soviet Union were receiving reports of UPO sightings on the srouad and in the air, adding that the paper's editorial office was reviewing hundreds of reports related to UFO incidents. In response to this deluge of reports, the paper interviewed Anatoliy Listratov, chairman of the section of the Ail Vnion Astronomical and Geodesic Society assigned Lo the study of anosaloua phenomena, who said that;although his group is "still wandering around in the darkness," some important developments in the investigations had recently occurred. He stated that "at the sites of the Iandings...the operating frequency of a crystal-controlled oscillator changes. Simply speaking, electroAic timepieces run at rates that are either too fast or too siov." Listratov noted that Soviet military officers and pilots had recently started prodding same docweentation on UFO sightings. As an example, he stated that 6e had documentary information regarding an encounter between Soviet aircraft and a UPO over the city of Borisov. The crews of two 000042346 Soviet aircraft reported seeing a large flying disk in their vicinity xith five beams of light esaaatiag frpm it: three beams mere directed toxard the ground sad two were projected upxard when the object vas first sighted. The ground controller instructed one of the planes to alter its course and approach the object, at which point the disk f,~ex to the same level and aimed one of its beams at the approaching Sov#et plane, illuminating the cockpit. Listratov cited the pilot's log w stating:_ "At this time, the copilot vas at the coatrol.s. He observed the maneuver that the object had just carried out and rasa able to raise his Land to shield himself frog the nabearable light. The aircraft commander vas resting is the adjoining seat, and a bright ray of light, projecting a spot with a diameter of 20 centimeters, passed across his body. Both pilots felt beat." dccording to Listratov, the aircraft eommaader and his copilot both 'became "invalids" shortly after the incident. The copilot vas forced to Ieave his job due to, a sudden deterioration in his health, including the onset of sudden prolonged periods of "loss of consciousness." The iircraft +eoarander died Within a few months. The cause of death vas listed as "csacer,* and "injury to the organism as a result of radiation from an unidentified flying object" xas listed as a contributing factor on the__ official ^edfcal record in the hospital xhere the commander died, according to Listratov. Listratov told SOTSIALISTICHESKAYA INDUSTRIYA that about 95 percent of UFO sightings could be explained, sad investigations have often revealed them to be burned-out rocket stages or the remnants of unsuccessful rocket launches. It is the 5 percent that cannot be explained that is causing all the commotion among Soviet scientists and eilitary personnel. Instead of the xidesprtad skepticism that he had expected rhea he first began to interview military personnel, he noted that officers and soldiers had told him about their oxn encounters with UFOs, and they had even shown him reports that had been completely filled out on official forms. HOMSOMOLSKAYA PRAVDA of 7 October reported that the Soviet Union had just opened an official center for the study of UFOs in Moscow. Physicists, geologists, astronomers, and psychologists are teaching courses on the various characteristics of the UPOs that have been reported and the types of equipment necessary to Investigate UPO sightings. _. :_On 9 October?#he Soviet news a~encj- TASS reported thit a UFO had landed in a park in the city of Voronezh. TASS reported that the object had been observed by many witnesses before it left. Ri0MS0lIOLS1CAYA PSAVDA of 12 October reported that a group of scientists had visited a field in Perm Oblast to investigate claims that a UFO had landed in that area and had left behind a circular impression measuring 62 meters in diameter. 1CRASNAYA ZVBZDA of 13 October suggested that mesa hysteria may be an important factor contributing to the recent outburst of videsgread claims of encounters with UPOs in the USSR. wccording to the gaper, many elements of the Soviet media mere fanning this phenomenon, which it compared to the hysteria resulting from Orson Velles' radio broadcast in 1938 about an invasion of the United States by extraterrestrials. The 19-25 October issue of POISK carried an article contrasting the viewpoints of scientists from the two main Soviet institutes presently 000042346 engaged in investigating UFO reports--the newly established center for UFO studies in the Palace of Culture of Power Bngineers in Noacow and the Terrestrial Magnetisa, Ionosphere, and Aadio Vave Propagation Institute, which has branches in Troitsk, Leningrad, and,;Irkutsk. Physicist Yuriy PLtov of the Terrestrial Nagnctism Iastftutd'does not believe the claias of scientists who aaiatain they have found remnants in Dalnegorsk of a UF8 constructed by extraterrestrials, and he is convinced that the materials found at that site are really only the remaaats of the unsuccessful launch of a Soviet rocket in that region. 8e believes that many of the other reports of UFOs can be explained by the inability of the observers to recognize the phenoaenoa known as *ball iightning.* the POISR article contrasted Platov's view with that of another physical scientist, Vladimir Azhazha, who vas recently elected chairaan of the acv All-Union Comaission for the Study of Unidentified Flying Objects of the Union of Scientific and Engineering Societies. Azhazha compared reports of a UFO crash in the USSR with a claia by UPO enthusiasts in the United States that a UFO had crashed in the destrt sear Aoswell, New Mexico, in 1947. He believes there is sufficient evidence to support the claims of UFO crashes in both cases--in Dalnegorsk and is Roswell. In fhe latter case, he cited the testimony of eyewitnesses who aaintained that they had seen the bodie~r of four extraterrestrials lying neat the smashed spacecraft. According to Platov, hawevar, the eyewitnesses in the Roswell case were mistakes. He believes that the object that crashed vas a USAF experiaental rocket with four Rhesus monkeys aboard and that the accident was the result of an unsuccessful launch attempt at the dawn of the space era. SOTSIALISTICHESKAYA INDUSTRIYA of ZI October noted that hundreds of residents had reported observing a UFO in Oask and that many of these eyewitnesses had reported the sighting directly to the paper's office in Omsk. The article included a report by an "authoritative" military officer, !!aj V. Loginov, who stated: "I must tell you straight off that radar did not detect this object, sad so I am reporting visual observations. The object vas passing over at an altitude of several kilometers. The visible shining sphere appeared to be about one and a half tines as large as the moon's shape in the sight sky. Four projectors--some parallel and some at angles, to the Barth--acre casting very bright beams. The object?was in the field of vision for about S'~miriutes...hovering...oves? the civil airport before descending a little. Then the projectors were turned off and a whirling pluae trail instantaneously appeared around this shining sphere. The object began to recede rapidly in a direction from the northwest to the east at the sane titre that flights were being carried out from a neighboring airport. Pilots were able to observe it visually, but they could not detect it on their radar screens.... aadar signals could not be reflected from it. This object vas immediately reported up the chain-of-cvaAand, and our colleagues in the Altay~lCray, in the area toward which the object flew, reported back to us within S minutes that they had it under visual observation. That meant that it had covered a distance of approximately 60O kilometers at a speed of about 7,000 kilometers per hoar." According to Loginov, all observations indicated that the object was a UFO being controlled by soae kind of intelligence and that it was not merely soae kind of anomalous atmospheric phenomenon. 000042346 SOVSTSKAIA gtJLTOAA of 28 October reported on the results of a conference in Petrozavodsk of about i00 Soviet scieatiats representinY the "various ~ranchea of science and technolvgy.* the Bain topic of discussion ens the a+ultitude of claims of recent OFO si~htings in the OSSR. According to SOVSTSKA?A t.UL203A, sore questions about DFOs Mere raised at this conference than Mere answered. ~ - d.ITBitAtt~NA?e GAZETA of 1 ttove~aber reported that 9oroneah, ~rhere some ~obaervera had elaiaed to have eitnesaed the Ending and take-off of a ilFO, bas become the pLce for a *pilgrimage" by correspondents seeking sensational sews for their aewapapers, regardless of the controversial nature of the so-called *veighty evidence* being presented as proof that extraterrestrials had risited Voronezh.