Moscow UAP Events — Soviet KGB Files Partial Release

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, limited disclosure of Soviet and Russian government UAP records began. The Soviet Union had maintained classified investigations of UAP under the Soviet Air Defence Forces (PVO Strany) since at least the 1960s. Post-Soviet Russian researchers gained partial access to records from the Soviet Ministry of Defence's investigation program, designated in internal documents as 'MO RF Study of Anomalous Phenomena.' These records documented: Soviet Air Defense Forces radar contacts with unidentified objects performing maneuvers inconsistent with US or NATO aircraft; Soviet military pilot encounter reports, particularly over Central Asia and the Arctic; and a coordinated Soviet scientific investigation in the late 1970s that involved the Soviet Academy of Sciences. The Soviet KGB maintained parallel records. Limited KGB UAP files were made available to selected Russian researchers in the early 1990s. The disclosures revealed that the Soviet Union had treated the UAP phenomenon with greater institutional seriousness than the US publicly acknowledged — conducting multi-agency investigations and maintaining substantial classified databases. US Embassy Moscow diplomatic cables from 1991–1993 reference the Soviet/Russian UAP program disclosures. The extent of Soviet UAP program records remains largely inaccessible to Western researchers.