Documents / FOIA release

Meteorites May Have Caused 'Mysterious Craters' Near Kursk

Central Intelligence Agency · 1994-05-28 · 1 pages · text by GLM-OCR

This is a CIA Foreign Broadcast Information Service translation, dated 28 May 1994 and released in May 2000, of a Komsomolskaya Pravda report by Nikolay Yefimovich. It describes two craters 7 to 8 meters across found in a ravine near the Kursk nuclear power station, with no explosion heard, no scattered earth, metal fragments or fire traces, and normal radiation. Civil defense specialists favored a large meteorite, since people had seen a fiery body in the sky, but also raised the possibility of a UFO.

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

*** Document 99 of 54 f. . FBIS ***

DOCN 000185420

CLAS UNCLAS 3D/FAX NATDIS

SERI SERIAL: PM0106093794

PASS PASS: COPY TO

COUN COUNTRY: RUSSIA

SUBJ SUBJ: METEORITES MAY HAVE CAUSED 'MYSTERIOUS CRATERS' NEAR KURSK

SOUR SOURCE: MOSCOW KOMSOMOLSKAYA PRAVDA IN RUSSIAN 28..MAY 94 P 2

TEXT TEXT:

//((NIKOLAY YEFIMOVICH REPORT: "ATOMIC ANOMALY NEAR KURSK"))

((TEXT)) KURSK -- TWO MYSTERIOUS CRATERS 7-8 METERS IN DIAMETER HAVE BEEN DISCOVERED IN THE SIDE OF A RAVINE NEAR THE KURSK NUCLEAR POWER STATION. IN THE OPINION OF SPECIALISTS, HOLLOWS OF THIS KIND CAN ONLY BE THE RESULT OF A 500-KG BOMB EXPLODING. HOWEVER, NO EXPLOSIONS HAVE BEEN HEARD THROUGHOUT THE DISTRICT. THERE ARE NO SIGNS OF THE EARTH-THAT HAS BEEN DISCHARGED FROM THE CRATERS. NOR HAVE ANY FRAGMENTS OF METAL AND TRACES OF FIRE BEEN RECORDED.

SPECIALISTS' INITIAL STUDIES FAILED TO PROVIDE THE SOLUTION. THE LEVEL OF RADIATION FELL WITHIN NATURAL BACKGROUND LIMITS. SAMPLES OF THE SOIL AND WATER IN ONE OF THE CRATERS REVEALED NOTHING OUT OF THE ORDINARY. NO SEISMOLOGICAL FLUCTUATIONS HAVE BEEN RECORDED IN KURSK OBLAST.

THE PERSONNEL OF THE CIVIL DEFENSE AND EMERGENCY SITUATIONS STAFF IN CONJUNCTION WITH SPECIALISTS ARE WORKING ON SEVERAL IDEAS. THE FIRST AND MAIN ONE BEING THAT A LARGE METEORITE HAS FALLEN HERE. SEVERAL DAYS AGO MANY PEOPLE SAW A FIERY BODY IN THE HEAVENS. AND PILLARS OF FIRE IN THE VICINITY OF THE MYSTERIOUS CRATERS. THE SECOND IDEA IS THAT THIS MAY QUITE WELL HAVE BEEN A

*UFO.

(ENDALL) 28 MAY 01/1031Z JUN WC 199

BT

#4686

NNNN NNNN

EOD

Approved for Release Date. MAY 2000

(6) (3)

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About this file

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. 1 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.