Nothing But the Facts on UFOs or Which Novosti Writer Do You Read?

This document, dated April 9, 1968, serves as a commentary on the contradictory nature of Soviet media coverage regarding Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs). The document notes that the Soviet news agency Novosti (APN) disseminated two distinct and opposing viewpoints to its readership. The first perspective, authored by Felix Zigel, a Doctor of Science and Assistant Professor at the Moscow Aviation Institute, appeared in the February 1968 issue of Soviet Life and treated the UFO phenomenon with scientific seriousness. Conversely, the second perspective, written by APN Science Commentator Villen Lyustiberg, appeared in the February 16, 1968, issue of Moskovsky Komsomolets. Lyustiberg dismissed UFOs as a myth, characterizing them as a tool for Western misinformation and a distraction from U.S. political failures and aggressions. The document includes the full text of these articles, which detail various historical accounts, including the 1947 Kenneth Arnold sighting, the death of Captain Thomas Manthell, and the Tunguska event. The compilation highlights the irony that the same agency, Novosti, provided such disparate materials to the same audience, suggesting that the Soviet approach to the subject was multifaceted and potentially propagandistic. The document concludes by noting that while some Soviet scientists were beginning to investigate the phenomenon, others remained deeply skeptical, viewing the entire discourse as a Western-manufactured sensation.