(Estimated Pub Date) Takes 1 & 2--FOREIGN Press Note--Fb Pn 91-003---USSR

Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.

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SERIAL=WA0501074191

UDN=W（4030）

CLASS=UNCLAS /LD PMU

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SERIAL: WA0501074191

PASS: ATTN BBC_USSR

SUBJ: TAKE 2 OF 2--FOREIGN PRESS NOTE--FB PN 91-003--USSR

REF: WA0501074091 FOREIGN BROADCAST INFORMATION SERVICE PROD GROUP //WOULD BE FUTILE...'

SOURCE: FOREIGN BROADCAST INFORMATION SERVICE PROD GROUP TEXT:

TRETYAK WAS ASKED HOW HE REACTS TO EACH NEW REPORT OF SIGHTINGS AND WHETHER HE PERSONALLY BELIEVES THAT UFOS ARE FLOWN BY INTELLIGENT BEINGS OF EXTRATERRESTRIAL ORIGIN. TRETYAK SAID HE WOULD NOT, AT THIS TIME, TAKE AN OATH ON HIS PARTY MEMBERSHIP CARD THAT NONE OF THE UFOS APPEARING OVER SOVIET TERRITORY ARE PILOTED BY EXTRATERRESTRIALS BUT SAID HE BELIEVES "'THE SERIOUS SCIENTISTS WHO MAINTAIN THAT THE APPEARANCE OF EXTRATERRESTRIALS ON EARTH IS EXTREMELY IMPROBABLE. NEVERTHELESS, EACH NEW REPORT ABOUT SUCH AN EVENT EVOKES IN ME, I THINK AS IN MANY OTHERS, A MODERATE CURIOSITY. THIS IS A HUMAN REACTION. BUT THE REACTION OF THE COMMANDER-IN CHIEF OF THE AIR DEFENSE FORCES IS THE DESIRE TO INVESTIGATE WHAT IS BEHIND ALL OF THESE REPORTS. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO CHECK OUT ALL OF THESE REPORTS...THERE ARE TOO MANY OF THEM. BUT THIS IS HARDLY NECESSARY. OFTEN, THEY ARE SIMPLY NEWSPAPER 'HOAXES.' RECENTLY, IN RABOCHAYA TRIBUNA, A REPORT APPEARED -- SOME KIND OF FLYING VEHICLE APPEARED IN THE KUYBYSHEV DISTRICT AND, WHAT IS MORE, IT DESTROYED OUR RADAR STATION. NATURALLY WE WERE PERPLEXED -- WHY IS THERE NO REPORT? A DESTROYED STATION -- IT IS A MAJOR INCIDENT. EVEN IF IT HAD BEEN HIT BY LIGHTNING, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN NECESSARY TO REPORT THIS IMMEDIATELY. AND HERE WE HAVE AN ATTACK BY A FLYING VEHICLE. BUT IT CAN BE EXPLAINED. RABOCHAYA TRIBUNA TOOK THESE REPORTS FROM THE DISTRICT MILITARY NEWSPAPER ZA RODINU. IT TURNS OUT THE HOAX WAS THOUGHT UP BY A STAFF MEMBER OF THE DISTRICT NEWSPAPER IN ORDER TO ATTRACT READERS. MAYBE, RIGHT NOW, EVEN AS WE SPEAK, THIS CAPTAIN IS IN THE OFFICE OF GENERAL MAKASHOV AND THE LATTER IS, AS THEY SAY, FLAYING HIM ALIVE. THESE DAYS, ALL THESE RUMORS AND NEWSPAPER 'HOAXES' FALL ON FERTILE SOIL -- EVERYBODY WANTS A MIRACLE. AND WHEN IT IS WANTED -- IT WILL APPEAR.'

TRETYAK ADVISED THE PUBLIC TO ADOPT A CRITICAL AND CAUTIOUS ATTITUDE TOWARD THE UFO PHENOMENON IN LIGHT OF THE INCREASING NUMBER OF HOAXES. HE EMPHASIZED, HOWEVER, THAT SOME OF THE UFOS, AS DEMONSTRATED BY EVIDENCE OBTAINED BY HIS INTERCEPTOR PILOTS, ARE REAL. "'AT THE SAME TIME HOAXES ARE REING PERPETRATED, I REPEAT, THERE REALLY ARE PHENOMENA OF SOME KIND WHICH ARE APPEARING BEFORE US IN THE FORM OF UFOS, THE NATURE OF WHICH WE DO NOT KNOW.'"

(FOR FURTHER REPORTING ON THIS TOPIC, SEE THE FBIS FOREIGN PRESS NOTES: FB PN 89-292, 22 NOV 90, 'USSR: MEDIA REPORTS MULTITUDE OF UFO SIGHTINGS' AND FB PN 90-123, 22 MAY 90, 'USSR: UFO SIGHTINGS NO.2. GENERAL MALTSEV COMMENTS')

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