C00174870
 Page: 5     of 42
 FBIS Concatenated Daily Reports, 1990
 Document 5 of 12                                                 Page
 Classification:   UNCLASSIFIED       Status:        [STAT]
 Document Date:    06 Sep 90          Category:      [CAT]
 Report Type:      Daily Report       Report Date:
 Report Number:    FBIS-SOV-90-173    UDC Number:
 Author(s):        stringer V. Magas under the rubric "Incidents": "How a
 UFO Was Downed"--first paragraph is editorial
 introduction]
 Headline:  Air Defense Forces Shoot Down Balloon Over Kola
 Source Line:  PM0609080290 Moscow KRASNAYA ZVEZDA in Russian 6 Sep 90
 First Edition p 3
 Subslug:   [Article by stringer V. Magas under the rubric
 "Incidents": "How a UFO Was Downed"--first paragraph is
 editorial introduction]
 FULL TEXT OF ARTICLE:
 1.  [Article by stringer V. Magas under the rubric "Incidents":
 "How a UFO Was Downed"--first paragraph is editorial introduction]
 2.  [Text] On 4 September this year our newspaper published a TASS
 correspondent article on the UFO seen 2 September by residents of
 Murmansk.  But it turns out that the UFO was also being observed by
 the country's air defense servicemen.  Our stringer reports what
 happened next.
 3.  As it approached the coast the spherical UFO came within range of
 air defense surface-to-air missile complexes.  But it was not
 possible for them to open fire to destroy the "uninvited guest"
 because the target was over a heavily populated area.  Therefore the
 superior command (and it had been receiving regular reports from the
 moment contact was made) ordered that observations be continued....
 4.  The UFO hovered over Murmansk and Severomorsk at a height of up
 to 29,000 meters without emitting any radio signals.  By the morning
 of 3 September it had moved deep into the Kola Peninsula, and it was
 then that fighter squadron commander Captain First Class I.
 Sdatchenko was ordered to destroy the target.  In actual fact, it was
 not a UFO at all but a balloon.  The experienced pilot carried out
 the mission successfully--the balloon was destroyed at 0806 hours
 north of the town of Kovdor.
 5.  According to the pilot the balloon was enormous--up to 40 to 50
 meters in diameter.  This refuted the previous suggestion that it was
 an ordinary weather balloon.  After the balloon burst, the containers
 it was carrying landed with the aid of automatically deployed
 Approv d for Release
 UNCLASSIFIED
 C00174870
 Page: 6     of 42
 FBIS Concatenated Daily Reports, 1990
 Document 5 of 12                                                Page   2
 parachutes.  Border guards have passed them on to a scientific
 research institute to be studied.  So far just one thing is known:
 The "UFO" was produced abroad.