SOVIET PRESS AIRS STARTLING UFO EVIDENCE FROM MILITARY SOURCES

 Tribune, New York, NY - June 21, 1990

CR: A. Huneeus {Reprinted with permission}

ANTONIO HUNEEUS/SCIENCE FRONTIERS

SOVIET PRESS AIRS STARTLING UFO EVIDENCE FROM MILITARY SOURCES

             Second in a two-part series.

Last week we revealed how the Soviet Union is experiencing an

intense UFO wave and how, due to glasnost, what was once a

forbidden subject is now covered in detail by the Soviet press. 

Even cases involving the Soviet military are now reaching the

public.

     On Sept. 30, 1989, the newspaper Sotsiahisticheskaya

Industriya (Socialist Industry) quoted Anatoliy Listratov,

chairman of the anomalous phenomena section of the All-Union

Astronomical and Geodesic Society, that "Soviet military officers

and pilots had recently started providing some documentation on

UFO sightings."  That and similar articles were translated by the

U.S. government's Foreign /broadcast Information Service

(FBIS).An FBIS "Foreign Press Note" entitled "USSR: Media Report

Multitude of UFO Sightings" was dated Nov. 22, 1989.

     The article described one of the most serious UFO injury

cases ever reported, involving the scramble of two Soviet jets

over the city of Borisov in Byelorussia: "The crews of two Soviet

aircraft reported seeing a large flying disk in their vicinity

with five beams of lights enamating from it: three beams were

directed toward the ground and two were projected upward when the

object was first sighted.  The ground controller instructed one

of the planes to alter its course and approach the object, at

which point the disk flew to the same level and aimed one of its

beams at the approaching Soviet plane, illuminating the cockpit."

     The pilot's log stated, "At this time, the copilot was at

the controls.  He observed the maneuver that the object had just

carried out and was able to raise his hand to shield himself from

the unbearable light.  The aircraft commander was resting in 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 heat."

          One Injured, Another Dead

Both crewmen later became "invalids," the article said.  "The

copilot was forced to leave his job due to a sudden deterioration

in his health, including the onset of sudden prolonged periods of

'loss of consciousness.'  The aircraft commander died within a

few months.  The cause of death was listed as 'cancer' and

'injury to the organism as a result of radiation from an

unidentified flying object' was listed as a contributing factor

on the official medical record in the hospital where the

commander died."

     This is not the only military UFO incident to be reported in

the Soviet press.  In an unprecedented statement published in

Rabochaya Tribuna on April 19, General of Aviation Igor Maltsev,

chief of the Main Staff of Air Defense Forces, openly discussed a

radar-visual and jet scramble incident on the Pereslavl-Zalesskiy

region, east of Moscow, on the night of March 21.  This article

was also translated by FBIS and leaked to some American

ufologists.  We have also secured a Russian copy of the article

entitled "OFOs on Air Defense Radars."

     Due to its importance we shall quote Gen. Maltsev's

statement in full.  He said: "I am not a specialist on UFOs and

therefore I can only correlate the data and express my own

supposition.  According to the evidence of these eyewitnesses,

the UFO is a disk with a diameter from 100 to 200 meters.  Two

pulsating lights were positioned on its sides.  When the object

flew in a horizontal plane the line of the lights was parallel to

the horizon.  During vertical movement it rotated and was

perpendicular to the gorund.  Moreover, the object rotated around

its axis and performed an 'S-turn' flight both in the horizontal

and vertical planes.  Next, the UFO hovered over the ground and

then flew with a speed exceeding that of the modern jet fighter

by 2 or 3 times.  All of the observers moticed that the flight

speed was directly related to the flashing of the side lights:

the more often they flashed, the higher the speed.

    "The objects flew at altitudes ranging from 1,000 to 7,000

meters.  The movement of the UFOs was not accompanied by sound of

any kind and was distinguished by its startling maneuverability. 

It seemed the UFOs were completely devoid of intertia.  In other

words, they had somehow 'come to terms' with gravity.  At the

present time, terrestrial machines could hardly have any such

capabilities.  The object was observed as a 'pip' from a radar

target on the screens of aircraft radar sights and on the screens

of several electronic surveillance sub-units.  One station did

not establish an ovservation."

     Rabochaya Tribuna also said unit commanders compiled "more

than 100 visual observations" and passed them on to Gen. Maltsev.

Lt. Col. A.A. Semenchenko "received the command to go on an alert

exercise" at 21:38 hours.  "I received my task of detecting and

identifying a target at an altitude of 2000 meters," he reported. 

He established visual contact, although "the target did not

respond to the 'identify, friend or die,' request."  Considering

the Borisov incident, it is interesting to note his comment,

"with the permission of the command post, I locked my sights onto

the radiation after checking to be sure that the weaponry was

switched off."  The paper also published the testimonies of four

captains and a radar post as well as a photograph taken of the

Yaroslavskiy Highway.

          A 'Victory' for UFO Buffs

The newspaper editors commented, "UFO enthusiasts can celebrate a

victory.  It is the first time that the military so openly and

impressively witness on behalf of 'flying saucers.'  Especially

pleasing is the fact that the disclosure was made by air defense

representatives, people who possess unique technical

possibilities for observations.  Maybe now they will disclose

past secrets, legends of which are very popular.  Let us hope

that the present publication is a good occasion for further

disclosures."  

     The editors went on to say that these incidents "demolish a

hypothesis which relate UFOs to atmospheric phenomena."  This is

particularly interesting since in June of 1989, the official

Soviet Military Review published an article on "UFOs and

Security," which concluded that UFOs were most likelu related to

"certain plasma formations."