REPORT ON CONVERSATIONS WITH SOVIET SCIENTISTS ON SUBJECT OF UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS IS THE USSR

REPORT NO.

DATE OISTR.

Schentists on Bubject of Unidentified
Flying Objecte in the USSR NO, PAGES

: REFERENCES
(381)

DATE OF INFO. May 1967

PLACE & DATE ACO. USSR; May 1967

THIS 1S UNEVALUATED INFORMATION on

—

SOURCE

US citizen; an astrophysicist on the staff of a large research in-
stitute. The information in this report was extracted from a memorandum he.
wrote for his superiors. :

[This report was developed by an Air Force (AFNIN) representative as-
aigred to the office of préparation. ] ,

This report is an account of conversationc] exchanges on the subject of
UFO's durin> the course of a one-month trip of a US scientist through .
the USSR in the spring of 1967, for the purpose of visiting several astro-
nomical observatories having steff members engaged in planetary research.
The only scientists contacted during the trip were astronomers, and in-
quiries concerning Soviet observations and interpretations of UFO's

were a minor aspect of the trip. Within these limitations, an attempt
was made to assese Soviet scientific thinking on this controversial

topic.

He visited V.T. » Sternberg Institute, Moscow, who was noncomait-
tal on the subject of UFO's. The scientist who sorved as translator,

@ radio astronomer, m:phatically stated that he knew of no sightings
of UFO's in the USSR and added with a laugh that if they were only seen
in the US, they mst be of Soviet origin. :

At the Pulkovo Observatory, Leningrad, oneof the astronomers mentioned
that she had heard of some sightings of unidentified objects near the
Caucasus. She was unaware of any study being made of them but was open-
minded on the subject. :

The US scientist's main visit was to N.A. Aozyrev, who was very inter-
ested in the problem. He had read Menzel'3 book (which has been trans-
lated into Russian) but did not accept his conclusions. Kozyrev knew
of some sightings in the northern part of the USSR, but said that re-
porte of such sightings ere not printed in Soviet newspapers because
they are not resarded as scientific observaticns. (Comment: this fe
interesting in view of the readiners of Soviet newspapers to print ra-
ther fantastic reports of hypotheses and "observations" suggested by the |
more imaginative members of the scientific community. Apparently some
official sanction is needed.) Kozyrev has beer interested in US re-

ports of UFO's and readily accepts their reality. In fact, it is his

personsl opinion that the UFO's may originate on Venus. He is well
aware of the negative effect of "enlightened" scientific opinion on

_ the interpretation of questionable observations as he has had personal


CONTROLLED DISSEM NO DISSE) ABZOAD
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experience of this effect. (Comment: Kozyrev is a controversial figure
in the Soviet scientific community as well as internationally. Appar-
ently one of his questionable observations (the activity of the central
peak in the luner crater Alphonsus) has turned out to be correct, On
the other hand, it is really more accurate to say that this observation
led to an intensive search for activity on the Moon that has produced
some positive results, There may ba no connection between the two seta

of data, however.)

At the Main Astronomical Observatory, Kiev, little interest is shown in
the UFO question, I.K. Koval mentioned that he and several other as-
tronomers had been out in the countryside one evening and had seen a
curious, reddish object flashing through the sky that they were convinced
was neither a sateilite nor a meteorite. However, their immediate in-
terpretation was that this object might have been a fragment of a satel-
lite or rocket returning from orbit, burning up in the atmosphere. Koval
thought that UFO's had been seen in the USSR but he could not be specific

as to locations and characteristics.

At the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory, Crimea, again little interest
was shown. One of the astronomers, L.I. Galkin, was with the group men-
tioned by Koval and confirmed the observation of a peculiar object. He
did not discuss the experience in detail but clearly had been struck by
the possibility that the object might have been a "saucer."

At the Astrophysical Institute, Alma Ata, there was considerabie interest.
The institute includes an Atmospheric Optics Section presided over by
G.S, Lifschitz. However, the initial discussion of the problem was with
the director of the institue, G.M. Idlis, He too had read Menzel's

book, but considered it an adequate treatment of the subject which he
consequently felt was closed. He indicated that no observations of UFO's
had been made by his staff and that they had received no reports of such
observations. However, when the US scientist proceeded to indicate the
results of McDonald's critical study of the problem, Idlis readily con-
ceded that there might be more to it and concluded by stating that it
was "clearly still an open question."

Another estronomer mentioned that in the northern part of Kazakhstan
thera had been repeated sightings of ball Lightning. The University in
Alma At. had sent a team out to investigate and discovered that what war
being seen were reflections of automobile headlights from an inversion
layer,

Later, a discussion was held with Lifachitz. He was not very impressed
with Menzel's book, but was also not impressed with the significance of
the phenomenon. Tt is possible that some interest was kindled that might
lead to additional investigations.

A stellar spectroscopiat, Dr. wu = Kupo, was also interested in this
problem, partly as an adjunct to her attempts to locate fragments from

_belides, She was elso dissatisfied with Menzel's book and felt that
there was definitely an opportunity for additional research,

Whe general feeliug one gets ie that no official treatment of the UFO
problem has been given in the USSR, Instead people refer to the US
work, principally Menzel's book, to demonstrate the absence of real
-Selentific problems. At the same time, there is an almost universal
awareness of the history and characteristics of the phenomenon often ase |
sociated with considerable interest. The result is that a demonstration
8 the inadequacy of US Official cxplanations coupled with some proof of
the reality of the observations might excite entinsiasm mor ‘repi
among Soviet astronomers than among their US counterparts who are more
dicule asso dated with wee in