Documents / FOIA release
This CIA-distributed JPRS report, dated 1 April 1993, translates an Argumenty i Fakty interview by D. Makarov with V. Ivanov, commander of Russia's Military Space Forces. Ivanov discusses the effects of the Soviet collapse, control complexes transferred to Ukraine, staffing and funding problems at Baykonur, and civilian uses of space. On UFOs, he says northern sightings studied by an institute coincided with Plesetsk launches, but notes three unexplained radar objects near Baykonur about five years earlier.
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# Concatenated JPRS Reports, 1993 ## Document 11 of 19 Page 2 Scientific Space Center, and the Ministry of Defense of Russia, if we can reach an agreement, will cooperate with this center on a contractual basis. ## 8. [Makarov] What about Ukraine? 9. [Ivanov] Three of our command-measurement complexes-Yevpatoriya, Simferopol, and Dunayevtsy- have been transferred to the jurisdiction of Ukraine. I suggested that Russian and Ukrainian space agencies look for approaches to joint use of the equipment of these control points as we have agreed to do with Uzbekistan, but negotiations have been difficult so far. 10. [Makarov] Could Ukraine somehow independently use all of our antennas, control centers, etc.? 11. [Ivanov] No. These complexes cannot operate independently, without the infrastructure created over decades, without the technical base of the manufacturing enterprises, without specialists, who, incidentally, are trained by our Military Space Institute in St. Petersburg. 12. [Makarov] I know that the greatest problem for you is Baykonur. Hundreds of billions have been "'poured'" into there and now it has ended up outside Russia. 13. [Ivanov] In order for the space vehicle launching site to function normally, four interstate agreements have been concluded. The construction unit has now been transferred to the jurisdiction of Kazakhstan. The rest are included in the Military Space Forces of Russia. The problem is staffing them. Units at the test site are only 57.9 percent staffed with enlisted men and noncommissioned officers. 14. Recently President B. Yeltsin sent a letter to President of Kazakhstan N. Nazarbayev with a proposal to meet in May 1993 to discuss questions of the vital activity of Baykonur. 15. [Makarov] Can you reveal the budget of the Military Space Forces? 16. [Ivanov] We do not have a new budget yet, it still has to be approved by the Supreme Soviet. I can say only that, for example, it will take about 40 billion rubles just to maintain Baykonur in 1993. In terms of expenses the space forces occupy third place in the Ministry of Defense after the Navy and Air Force. After us come the missile forces and the Antiaircraft Defense. 17. [Makarov] Who if not you should one ask about UFO's. Are there
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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. 3 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.