CIA report number OO-B-321/23400-67, dated 18 August 1967 and released in PURSUE Release 03 on June 12, 2026, documents a U.S. civilian astrophysicist's informal survey of Soviet scientific attitudes toward unidentified flying objects during a one-month visit to Soviet astronomical observatories in May 1967. The two-page document was compiled by an Air Force representative (AFWIN) assigned to the office of preparation and carries a CONTROLLED DISSEMINATION classification with a NO DISSEM ABROAD restriction. It was designated unevaluated information at the time of filing. 123
Provenance and Chain of Custody
The report derives from a memorandum authored by an unnamed U.S. civilian astrophysicist on staff at a large research institute. The scientist conducted a series of visits to Soviet planetary research observatories, and the conversations recorded here were incidental to the primary scientific purpose of the trip. An AFWIN representative processed the memorandum into the standardized intelligence report format and filed it under report number OO-B-321/23400-67 with a date-of-information entry of May 1967. The document was approved for release in 2026 and appeared in PURSUE Release 03.
Because the source had no cover or clandestine brief -- the UFO discussions arose organically during scientific exchanges -- the information carries a candor that a formal collection operation might not. The classification as unevaluated information acknowledges that CIA analysts had not assessed its reliability or significance at the time of filing.
What the Document Contains
The report synthesizes conversations at five Soviet astronomical institutions. It identifies named Soviet scientists, records specific observations and stated opinions, and draws general conclusions about how Soviet institutional culture shaped attitudes toward the UFO question compared with the United States. It references two specific Western publications that circulated among Soviet astronomers at the time and documents one instance where the presentation of U.S. research shifted a Soviet scientist's stated position.
Observations at Soviet Astronomical Institutions
V.I. Horos Sternberg Institute, Moscow
At the Sternberg Institute, a radio astronomer serving as translator stated categorically that he knew of no UFO sightings in the USSR. His rejoinder -- that if UFOs were only seen in the United States they must logically originate from the Soviet Union -- was offered with evident humor. No substantive observational data was provided.
Pulkovo Observatory, Leningrad
An astronomer at Pulkovo mentioned having heard of sightings of unidentified objects near the Caucasus. She was unaware of any systematic study being conducted on those incidents but showed genuine openness to the topic.
Main Astronomical Observatory, Kiev
The Kiev observatory showed minimal institutional interest. However, astronomer I.K. Koval described a personal observation of significance: he and several colleagues had observed a toad-like, flickering object moving across the sky during an evening countryside outing. The group concluded the object was neither a satellite nor a meteorite. Their working interpretation was that it might represent a fragment of a satellite or rocket reentering and burning up in the atmosphere. Koval acknowledged that UFOs had likely been observed in the USSR but could not provide specific locations or object characteristics.
Crimean Astrophysical Observatory, Crimea
Astronomer I.I. Galileti, who had been present at the countryside observation described by Koval, confirmed the sighting. He elaborated little but was described as visibly affected by the possibility that the object might have been a "saucer." No additional Crimean observations were reported.
N.A. Kosyrev
Kosyrev was the scientist most engaged with the UFO problem encountered during the visit. He had read a book on UFOs that had been translated into Russian -- the same volume apparently referenced at other institutions -- though he did not accept all of its conclusions. Kosyrev was aware of sightings in the northern part of the USSR and noted that such reports do not appear in Soviet newspapers because authorities do not regard them as scientific observations. This is an explicit statement about Soviet editorial policy and its effect on the public record of anomalous aerial events.
Kosyrev had followed U.S. UFO reports closely and stated his personal opinion that UFOs may originate on Venus. He also spoke from experience about how established scientific consensus can suppress or distort the interpretation of quantitative observational data. The report notes that Kosyrev is a controversial figure in both Soviet and international scientific circles; one of his previously disputed observations -- activity at the central peak of the lunar crater Alphonsus -- later prompted intensive searches for lunar activity that produced some positive results, though the report cautions that no definitive connection exists between those data sets.
Astrophysical Institute, Alma Ata
The Alma Ata institute showed considerable interest in the UFO question. The institute's Atmospheric Optics Section was headed by G.S. Lifekhits.
The U.S. scientist first met with institute director G.M. Idlis, who had read the same UFO book referenced elsewhere and regarded it as a sufficient treatment of the subject -- effectively closing the question. He stated that his staff had made no UFO observations and had received none from outside. When the U.S. scientist presented results from McDonald's critical study of the phenomenon, Idlis's position changed: he readily conceded there might be more to investigate and concluded the matter was "clearly still an open question."
A separate Alma Ata astronomer reported that northern Kazakhstan had experienced repeated sightings of ball lightning. A University of Alma Ata team dispatched to investigate found the source to be reflections of automobile headlights from an atmospheric inversion layer -- a conventional explanation confirmed on-site.
G.S. Lifekhits himself was not impressed by the main UFO book under discussion and remained generally skeptical, though the report notes that some interest may have been kindled that could lead to further inquiry. Stellar spectroscopist Dr. TTU Kupo, partly in the context of her work locating space debris fragments, expressed dissatisfaction with the same book and concluded that additional research on the subject was clearly warranted.
Soviet Scientific Attitudes and Official Policy
The report draws several general conclusions from the accumulated conversations.
No official treatment of the UFO phenomenon had been undertaken in the USSR as of May 1967. Soviet scientists who wished to dismiss the subject cited U.S. work -- primarily one translated book -- as evidence that no genuine scientific problem existed. There was, however, an almost universal awareness of UFO history and characteristics among the Soviet astronomers encountered, often accompanied by personal curiosity that the scientists did not feel compelled to suppress or hide.
The report observes a meaningful contrast with the American scientific environment: U.S. astronomers were more strongly influenced by institutional ridicule associated with UFOs in the United States, while Soviet scientists, despite the absence of any official Soviet policy, appeared more open to the possibility that the phenomenon warranted scientific attention. The report attributes this partly to the perceived inadequacy of U.S. official explanations and to the evident reality of some observations.
The document also records a specific mechanism of suppression operating in the USSR: sighting reports did not appear in newspapers because editorial policy excluded content not regarded as scientifically credible. This differs structurally from U.S. suppression through ridicule; in the Soviet case the filter operated at the publication layer rather than through professional peer pressure.
What The Record Supports
This record supports the following conclusions with reasonable confidence. First, as of May 1967, no coordinated Soviet scientific or governmental investigation of unidentified aerial phenomena was underway at the institutions visited. Second, individual Soviet astronomers held a range of views from dismissive to genuinely curious, and at least two named scientists -- Koval and Galileti -- had personally observed an aerial object they could not identify. Third, the most engaged Soviet interlocutor, Kosyrev, was aware of northern USSR sightings and believed UFOs to be real, though his specific hypothesis regarding their origin is a personal opinion without evidentiary support in the document. Fourth, presentation of McDonald's study demonstrably shifted at least one scientist's stated position from closure to acknowledged open question.
The record does not establish that the Soviet government was aware of or investigating the phenomenon at a classified level. It does not confirm the nature or origin of any observed objects. The sighting described by Koval and Galileti received a mundane working explanation -- atmospheric reentry debris -- and the document does not endorse any alternative interpretation. The ball lightning episode at Alma Ata was resolved as misidentified automobile headlights. The document's designation as unevaluated information means CIA analysts placed no formal reliability weight on it at the time of filing.