Documents / FOIA release
This CIA-released FBIS translation of a 26 June 1996 ITAR-TASS report from Vilnius was approved for release in March 1997. It says two Lithuanian motor police officers saw a spherical, pulsing object hovering 20 to 30 meters above the ground near the village of Nemezis, on the Vilnius-Medininkai road, early on 25 June. The object made a crackling sound and flew off toward Vilnius. ARAS rapid reaction troops, sniffer dogs and civil defense staff searched the site, measured radiation and found grass flattened in a 10 meter radius.
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PAGE:0002 WARNING: ATTN WSPOPO SERIAL: LD2606110796 BODY COUNTRY: LITHUANIA SUBJ: POLICE OFFICERS SPOT UFO; RAPID REACTION FORCE ALERTED SOURCE: MOSCOW ITAR-TASS WORLD SERVICE IN RUSSIAN 0920 GMT 26 JUN 96 TEXT: BY VLADAS BURBULIS FBIS TRANSLATED TEXT VILNIUS, 26 JUN -- AN UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECT (UFO), SPOTTED NEAR THE LITHUANIAN BORDER ON 25 JUNE BY TWO DUTY MOTOR POLICE PATROL OFFICERS JAUNIUS POZERA AND LAIMIS KRAUJALIS PLACED THE WHOLE VILIUS POLICE ON THE ALERT. VEHICLE LOADS OF SOLDIERS FROM THE ARAS RAPID REACTION FORCE, SNIFFER DOGS AND POLICE REINFORCEMENTS IMMEDIATELY ARRIVED ON THE SCENE OF THE EMERGENCY. ACCORDING TO THE EYEWITNESS'S ACCOUNTS, AT ABOUT 0030 IN THE EARLY MORNING, ON THE VILNIUS-MEDININKAI ROAD, NEAR THE VILLAGE OF NEMEZIS, 10 KM FROM THE CAPITAL, AT AN ALTITUDE OF 20-30 METERS ABOVE THE GROUND, THEY NOTICED A SPHERICAL OBJECT HANGING AND "PULSING," ALTERNATELY SHRINKING AND EXPANDING. AT THE SAME TIME, THEY HEARD WHAT THEY DESCRIBED AS "A STRANGE SOUND LIKE AN ELECTRIC OR ELECTRONIC CRACKLE," WANTING TO TAKE A CLOSER LOOK AT THE UFO, THE POLICEMEN MOVED TOWARD IT. WHEN THEY HAD ADVANCED ABOUT 50 METERS THROUGH THE LONG GRASS, THE POLICE SAID, THE SPHERE MOVED AWAY, ROSE HIGHER AND RAPIDLY DEPARTED IN THE DIRECTION OF VILNIUS. THE POLICEMEN WATCHED THE UFO FOR ABOUT HALF AN HOUR. ON THEIR ARRIVAL AT THE SCENE OF THE "EMERGENCY", MEMBERS OF THE CIVIL DEFENSE DEPARTMENT, SERVICEMEN FROM THE SPECIAL FORCES AND COMMISSIONERS OF THE CAPITAL'S POLICE CAREFULLY STUDIED THE AREA, MEASURED THE BACKGROUND RADIATION AND TAPE-RECORDED THE STRANGE SOUND, WHICH WAS STILL HEARD IN THE AREA AFTER THE DISAPPEARANCE OF THE UFO. THE SNIFFER DOGS DID NOT DISCOVER ANYTHING SUSPICIOUS AND BEHAVED QUIETLY. BUT IT WAS NOTED THAT THE TALL GRASS AROUND THE PLACE OVER WHICH THE SPHERE HAD "HUNG" WAS FLATTENED TO A RADIUS OF 10 METERS. LITHUANIAN SCIENTISTS HAVE NOT YET EXPRESSED AN OPINION ON THE APPEARANCE OF THIS UFO NEAR VILNIUS. POLICE COMMISSIONER VALENTINAS JUCHNEVICIUS SAID IN A RADIO INTERVIEW TODAY THAT BOTH OFFICERS WHO WATCHED THE SHINING OBJECT "ARE PSYCHOLOGICALLY HEALTHY, NORMAL PEOPLE, NOT NOTED FOR CRANKINESS." THIS REPORT MAY CONTAIN COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL. COPYING AND DISSEMINATION IS PROHIBITED WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT OWNERS. UNCLASSIFIED
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FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 2 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.