USSR: MEDIA REPORT MULTITUDE OF UFO SIGHTINGS

This Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) report, dated 22 November 1989, summarizes a surge in media coverage regarding Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) within the Soviet Union. The document notes that a permanent center for the study of UFOs has been established in Moscow to investigate reported sightings. The report details several specific incidents, including a 1988 event in Dalnegorsk where a flying object allegedly crashed on Hill 611. Scientists studying the site reported finding various metals and materials, with some experts, such as Doctor of Chemical Sciences V. Vysotskiy, suggesting the debris indicates high-technology, non-terrestrial origins. Conversely, other researchers, including physicist Yuriy Platov, argue that the materials are merely remnants of unsuccessful Soviet rocket launches and that many sightings can be explained by natural phenomena like ball lightning.

The document also highlights a 1989 sighting in the Dnepropetrovsk region involving a disk-shaped object that emitted light and made no sound. Another incident involving a military encounter over the city of Borisov is described, where an aircraft crew reported a large disk with five beams of light. According to Anatoliy Listratov, chairman of a section of the All-Union Astronomical and Geodesic Society, both crew members subsequently suffered from severe health issues, with radiation exposure cited as a contributing factor in the commander's death.

Throughout the report, a clear divide is presented between 'enthusiasts' and 'skeptics.' Skeptics, such as Academician Vladimir Vasilyevich Migulin, maintain that over 90 percent of sightings can be attributed to mundane explanations, including rocket testing. Other reports mention mass hysteria as a potential factor, comparing the situation to the 1938 Orson Welles radio broadcast. The document concludes by noting that while a new All-Union Commission for the Study of Unidentified Flying Objects has been formed, the scientific community remains deeply divided, with many questions raised at recent conferences remaining unanswered.