(ESTIMATED PUB DATE) TAKES 1 & 2--FOREIGN PRESS NOTE--FB PN 91-003---USSR

• Document Type: FOIA
• Keywords: UFO SPECIAL COLLECTION
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005517677
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: June 24, 2015
• Document Release Date: January 31, 2011
• Case Number: F-2010-00651
• Publication Date: January 1, 1991

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SERIAL=WA0501074091 UDN=W(3883)
CLASS=UNCLAS /LD PMU
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SERIAL: WA0501074091
PASS: AT TN BBC USSR
ONLY
SUBJ: TAKE 1 OF 2--FOREIGN PRESS NOTE--FB PN 9i-003--USSR
SOURCE: FOREIGN BROADCAST INFORMATION SERVICE PROD GROUP
TEXT:
USSR: UFO SIGHTINGS NO. 3 -- DEPUTY MINISTER OF DEFENSE
INTERVIEW
LEADING SOVIET NEWSPAPERS HAVE INCREASED THEIR REPORTING ON UFO
SIGHTINGS IN RECENT MONTHS. ONE PARTICULAR HIGHLIGHT WAS A LENGTHY
INTERVIEW WITH SOVIET DEPUTY MINISTER OF DEFENSE IVAN TRETYAK IN THE
9 NOVEMBER LITERATURNAYA GAZETA, A LARGE WEEKLY NEWSPAPER WITH
NATIONAL CIRCULATION. TRETYAK, WHO ALSO HOLDS THE POSITIONS OF
COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE AIR DEFENSE FORCES AND GENERAL OF THE
ARMY, CONFIRMED THAT FIGHTER-INTERCEPTORS HAD ENCOUNTERED
UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS IN SOVIET AIR SPACE. HE SAID THAT ONE
' ' UNIDENTIFIED FLYING MACHINE ' ' HAD BEEN PHOTOGRAPHED BY INTERCEPTOR
PILOTS AND THAT OPTICAL AND THERMAL SIGNALS FROM IT HAD BEEN
DETECTED ON THE PILOTS' TARGET SCREENS, ALTHOUGH SOME ' 'STEALTH-
LIKE'' CAPACITY PREVENTED THE RECORDING OF RADAR SIGNALS.
LITERATURNAYA GAZETA COLUMNIST 0. MOROZ ASKED TRETYAK IF THE AIR
DEFENSE FORCES REGARD THE FLIGHT OF UFOS IN SOVIET AIR SPACE AS A
'VIOLATION OF THE SOVEREIGNTY OF-THE USSR.TRETYAK REPLIED-THAT
IT IS PREMATURE TO SEE THE UFOS AS A THREAT TO SOVIET SECURITY OR
SOVEREIGNTY BECAUSE ALTHOUGH PILOT REPORTS INDICATED THE UFOS
APPEARED TO BE OF ARTIFICIAL ORIGIN, THEIR REAL NATURE HAS NOT YET
BEEN DETERMINED. OBSERVING THAT MOST PREVIOUS UFO SIGHTINGS HAD
BEEN EXPLAINED AS NATURAL PHENOMENA OR AS A MISINTERPRETATION OF
OPTICAL PHENOMENA ASSOCIATED WITH ROCKET LAUNCHES OR THE ARTIFICIAL
DEBRIS THAT IS CONGESTING SPACE NEAR EARTH, TRETYAK ADDED: '' MANY OF
THE PHENOMENA TAKEN FOR UFOS ARE CAUSED BY THE PENETRATION OF COSMIC
RAYS THROUGH OZONE HOLES WHICH ARE FORMED DURING ROCKET
LAUNCHES.'' HE REVEALED THAT THE MILITARY KNEW SOME OF THE FAMOUS
UFO SIGHTINGS IN THE LATE 1970S COULD HAVE BEEN EXPLAINED BY MAKING
THIS EFFECT PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE BUT THAT ''FOR SECURITY REASONS,
NOTHI$ G WAS WRITTEN ABOUT THIS AT THAT TIME.''
GENERAL TRETYAK REPLIED NEGATIVELY WHEN ASKED WHETHER THE AIR
DEFENSE FORCES HAD DETECTED ANY OF THE UFOS CITED IN FIVE RECENT
CASES OF MASS OBSERVATION. AS AN EXAMPLE OF A CASE OF ''MASS''
OBSERVATION OF A UFO -- IN THIS CASE BY THE AIR DEFENSE FORCES
TRETYAK CITED AN UNIDENTIFIED FLYING VEHICLE APPARAT THAT WAS
REPORTED BY HIS CHIEF OF STAFF, COLONEL GENERAL MALTSEV, IN MARCH
1990 (SEE FOREIGN PRESS NOTE FB PN 90-123, 22 MAY 90, ''USSR: UFO
SIGHTINGS NO. 2 -- GENERAL MALTSEV COMMENTS''). TRETYAK STATED THAT
ONE PARTICULAR UFO HAD BEEN PHOTOGRAPHED, AND OPTICAL AND THERMAL
SIGNALS FROM IT HAD SHOWN UP ON THE TARGET SCREENS OF THE
INTERCEPTORS. IN THE WORDS OF TRETYAK: ''FOR QUITE A LONG TIME,
FROM 2003 TO 2330, IN THE REGION NORTHEAST OF MOSCOW
(PERESLAVLZALESSKIY, ZAGORSK, FRYAZINO, KIRZACH), TWO PULSATING
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LIGHTS WERE OBSERVED IN THE SKY, MOVING AS IF THEY WERE FIXED IN
POSITION IN RELATION TO EACH OTHER, LIKE THE SIDE LIGHTS OF AN
AIRPLANE. BUT THIS WAS NOT AN AIRPLANE. WE HAVE.WRITTEN TESTIMONY
FROM EYEWITNESSES AND PHOTOGRAPHS. SOME OBSERVERS WERE EVEN
CONVINCED THAT THE SPEED OF THE OBJECT DEPENDED ON THE FREQUENCY OF
THE PULSATION OF THE LIGHTS.'' TRETTAK NOTED THAT ALTHOUGH THE
OBJECT COULD BE OBSERVED ON A RADAR SCREEN AND PHOTOGRAPHED, IT
COULD NOT BE REGISTERED BY ON-BOARD RADAR RECORDING EQUIPMENT. HE
EXPLAINED THAT THE ''THREE SIGNALS WHICH COME IN FROM A TARGET --
THE RADAR SIGNAL, THE OPTICAL SIGNAL, AND THE THERMAL SIGNAL -- ALL
SHOW UP ON THE SCREEN OF THE SIGHT. IT IS AS IF THEY DUPLICATE
EACH OTHER, BUT THE RECORDING DEVICE REGISTERS ONLY THE RADAR
SIGNAL. AND, IN THIS 2 MARCH CASE, THERE WAS NONE." TRETYAK
SAID HE BELIEVES THAT THE UFO CANNOT BE RECORDED ON RADAR BECAUSE IT
IS NOT AN ORDINARY FLYING MACHINE WHICH CAN BE RECORDED ON THE
RELATIVELY NARROW BAND ON WHICH AIR DEFENSE FORCES RADARS OPERATE.
TRETYAK FURTHER EXPLAINED THAT THE UFO APPEARED TO HAVE ?
''STEALTHLIKE " CHARACTERISTICS. STATING HIS HOPE THAT
TECHNOLOGICAL PROGRESS WILL MAKE IT POSSIBLE TO WIDEN THE CAPABILITY
OF RADARS TO COUNTERACT ''STEALTH'' FEATURES, TRETYAK SAID: ''IT IS
KNOWN, FOR EXAMPLE, THAT THERE ARE A NUMBER OF MATERIALS AND SHAPES
WHICH SHARPLY LOWER THE RADAR AND OPTICAL PROFILE OF AN OBJECT....
THAT IS PRECISELY WHAT IS BEING ACHIEVED IN THE AMERICAN 'STEALTH'
PROGRAM.... I ADMIT THAT THE MEASURES AIMED AT COUNTERING THIS
PROGRAM, WHICH WE ARE NOW TAKING, WILL SIMULTANEOUSLY PROMOTE THE
SOLUTIONOF--THE UFO RIDDLE ` TRETYAK SUGGESTED-THAT ''IF-SPECIAL-
OBSERVATION POSTS WERE ORGANIZED AND THE FREQUENCIES ON WHICH RADARS
OPERATE WERE EXPANDED.. .WE MOST LIKELY WOULD SEE MORE. FOR THIS,
HOWEVER, VERY GREAT RESOURCES ARE NECESSARY. THE GROUND RADARS OF
THE AIR DEFENSE FORCES ALSO DID NOT RECORD THE UFO TARGET.'WHEN ASKED WHY HE, AS COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE AIR DEFENSE
.FORCES, DID NOT ORDER THE UFO SHOT DOWN, PARTICULARLY SINCE HIS
PREDECESSOR IN THE POST OF COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, AS WELL AS THE
MINISTER OF DEFENSE, HAD BEEN REMOVED FROM THEIR POSITIONS WHEN THEY
WERE UNABLE TO PREVENT A ''FLIGHT OVER OUR TERRITORY AND A LANDING
IN MOSCOW OF THE INOFFENSIVE SPORTS PLANE THAT WAS FLOWN BY RUST,"
TRETYAK POINTED OUT THAT THE UFOS ENCOUNTERED THUS FAR BY HIS PILOTS
HAVE APPEARED TO POSE NO EXTRATERRESTRIAL THREAT AND THAT THERE IS
STILb.NO PROOF THE UPOS ARE OF EXTRATERRESTRIAL ORIGIN OR FLOWN BY
INTELLIGENT BEINGS. MOREOVER, HE WARNED, IT WOULD BE FOOLHARDY TO
LAUNCH AN UNPROVOKED ATTACK AGAINST AN OBJECT THAT MAY POSSESS
FORMIDABLE CAPACITIES FOR RETALIATION. HE SAID THAT EVEN IF IT IS
PROVEN SOME OF THE UFOS ARE ''A PRODUCT OF A HIGHLY ORGANIZED
INTELLIGENCE FROM A SIGNIFICANTLY MORE DEVELOPED CIVILIZATION THAN
OUR OWN...ANY FIGHT WITH SUCH OBJECTS AND THEIR CREWS -- BEFORE A
CLARIFICATION OF THEIR INTENTIONS -- WOULD BE FUTILE.... "
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SERIAL=WA0501074191 UDN=W(4030)
CLASS=UNCLAS /LD PMU
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SERIAL: WA0501074191
PASS: ATTN BBC USSR
ONLY IM
SUBJ: TAKE 2 OF 2--FOREIGN PRESS NOTE--FB PH 97:-003--USSR
RE?: WA0501074091 FOREIGN BROADCAST INFORMATION SERVICE PROD
GROUP ///WOULD BE FUTILE...."
SOURCE: FOREIGN BROADCAST INFORMATION SERVICE PROD GROUP
TEXT:
TRETYAK WAS ASKED HOW HE REACTS TO EACH NEW REPORT OF SIGHTINGS
AND WHETHER HE PERSONALLY.BELIEVES THAT UFOS ARE FLOWN BY
INTELLIGENT BEINGS OF EXTRATERRESTRIAL ORIGIN. TRETYAK SAID HE
WOULD NOT, AT THIS TIME, TAKE AN OATH ON HIS PARTY MEMBERSHIP CARD
THAT NONE OF THE UFOS APPEARING OVER SOVIET TERRITORY ARE PILOTED BY
EXTRATERRESTRIALS BUT SAID HE BELIEVES ''THE SERIOUS SCIENTISTS WHO
MAINTAIN THAT THE APPEARANCE OF EXTRATERRESTRIALS ON EARTH IS
EXTREMELY IMPROBABLE. NEVERTHELESS, EACH NEW REPORT ABOUT SUCH AN
EVENT EVOKES IN ME, I THINK AS IN MANY OTHERS, A MODERATE CURIOSITY.
THIS IS A HUMAN REACTION. BUT THE REACTION OF THE COMMANDER-IN
CHIEF OF THE AIR DEFENSE FORCES IS THE DESIRE TO INVESTIGATE WHAT IS
BEHIND ALL OF THESE REPORTS. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO CHECK OUT ALL OF
THESE REPORTS... THERE ARE TOO MANY OF THEM. BUT THIS IS HARDLY
NECESSARY. OFTEN, THEY ARE SIMPLY NEWSPAPER 'HOAXES.' RECENTLY, IN
RASOCHAYA TRIBUNA, A REPORT APPEARED -- SOME KIND OF FLYING.-V.EH.ICLE_
APPEARED IN THE KUYBYSHEV DISTRICT AND, WHAT IS MORE, IT DESTROYED
OUR RADAR STATION. NATURALLY WE WERE PERPLEXED -- WHY IS THERE NO
REPORT? A DESTROYED STATION -- IT IS A MAJOR INCIDENT. EVEN IF IT
HAD BEEN HIT BY LIGHTNING, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN NECESSARY TO REPORT
THIS IMMEDIATELY. AND HERE WE HAVE AN ATTACK BY A FLYING VEHICLE.
BUT IT CAN BE EXPLAINED. RA3OCHAYA TRIBUNA TOOK THESE REPORTS FROM
THE DISTRICT MILITARY NEWSPAPER ZA RODINU. IT TURNS OUT THE HOAX
WAS THOUGHT UP BY A STAFF MEMBER OF THE DISTRICT NEWSPAPER IN ORDER
TO ATTRACT READERS. MAYBE, RIGHT NOW, EVEN AS WE SPEAK, THIS
CA?TAIN IS IN THE OFFICE OF GENERAL MAKASHOV AND THE LATTER IS, AS
THEY SAY, FLAYING HIM ALIVE. THESE DAYS, ALL THESE RUMORS AND
NEWSPAPER 'HOAXES' FALL ON FERTILE SOIL -- EVERYBODY WANTS A
MIRACLE. AND WHEN IT IS WANTED -- IT WILL APPEAR.''
TT~'ETYAK ADVISED THE PUBLIC TO ADOPT A CRITICAL AND CAUTIOUS
ATTITUDE TOWARD THE UFO PHENOMENON IN LIGHT OF THE INCREASING NUMBER
OF HOAXES. HE EMPHASIZED, HOWEVER, THAT SOME OF THE UFOS, AS
DEMONSTRATED BY EVIDENCE OBTAINED BY HIS INTERCEPTOR PILOTS, ARE
REAL. ''AT THE SAME TIME HOAXES ARE. BEING PERPETRATED , I REPEAT,
THERE REALLY ARE PHENOMENA OF SOME KIND WHICH ARE APPEARING BEFORE
US IN THE FORM OF UFOS, THE NATURE OF WHICH WE DO NOT KNOW.''
(FOR FURTHER REPORTING ON THIS TOPIC, SEE THE FBIS FOREIGN PRESS
NOTES: FB PN 89-292, 22 NOV 90, ''USSR: MEDIA REPORTS MULTITUDE'OF
UFO SIGHTINGS" AND FB PN 90-123, 22 MAY 90, ''USSR: UFO SIGHTINGS
N0.2. GENERAL MALTSEV COMMENTS'')
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