Documents / FOIA release
This CIA-released FBIS translation covers a Moscow Central Television "TV Inform" video report by Aleksandr Krutov, broadcast on 28 October 1991. The report describes environmental damage in Dalnegorsk, Maritime Kray, where strip mining by the 'Bor' industrial association left a moon-like landscape, dust pollution and water that crumbles cement. A local gynecologist links rising birth defects to industry. The report also mentions a UFO said to have crashed on a hill there several years earlier, and notes that local ufologists await a landing.
“Hill”1 page
Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.
SERIAL=OW0411002891 UDN=U(3007) CLASS=UNCLAS 3S/LD STV UNCLAS 3S/LD STV SERIAL: 0W0411002891 PASS: ATTN BBC RDSUP COPY TO COUNTRY: USSR SUBJ: STRIP MINING POLLUTES DALNEGORSK, MARITIME KRAY SOURCE: MOSCOW CENTRAL TELEVISION FIRST PROGRAM AND ORBITA NETWORKS IN RUSSIAN 1030 GMT 28 OCT 91 TEXT: //((A. KRUTOV VIDEO REPORT; FROM THE "TV INFORM" PROGRAM)) ((TEXT)) A TENTH OF THE TOTAL TERRITORY OF OUR COUNTRY, 290 RAYONS, ARE CONSIDERED ECOLOGICALLY DAMAGED. HERE IS A REPORT BY ALEKSANDR KRUTOV FROM THE CITY OF DALNEGORSK OF THE MARITIME KRAY: (BEGIN RECORDING)) ((KRUTOV)) SEVERAL YEARS AGO AN ((BEGIN RECORDING)) ((KRUTOV)) SEVERAL YEARS AGO, AN UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECT CRASHED ON THIS HILL. UNFORTUNATELY, AS THE EYEWITNESSES WERE CLIMBING TOWARDS THE SCENE OF THE EVENT, IT DISAPPEARED. AS WE UNDERSTOOD FROM OUR TALKS WITH THE RESIDENTS OF DALNEGORSK, THE UFOS ARE A COMMON OCCURRENCE HERE. THE LOCAL UFOLOGISTS HAVE EVEN ESTABLISHED CONTACT WITH OUTER SPACE, AND ONE DAY EXPECTED THE LANDING OF A UFO IN THE CITY STADIUM. FOR UNKNOWN REASONS, THE ENCOUNTER DID NOT TAKE PLACE, BUT THE UFOLOGISTS HAVE NOT LOST HOPE. SO WHAT ATTRACTS VISITORS FROM OUTER SPACE TO DALNEGORSK? COULD THIS DEAD LAND BE IT? ((VIDEO SHOWS SIGHTS IN DALNEGORSK TAKEN FROM HELICOPTER, CUTS TO SHOW WHAT LOOKS LIKE A STRIP-MINING SITE)) IT CERTAINLY IS SUITABLE ONLY FOR THE LANDING. OF A SPACESHIP. THIS MOON-LIKE LANDSCAPE IS WHAT HAS BEEN LEFT BEHIND BY THE INDUSTRIAL ASSOCIATION 'BOR'. THEY WERE LOOKING FOR A CHEAP DEAL AT THE TIME, AND THIS IS HOW THEY MINED, BUILDING TENANT HOUSES AND A HOSPITAL RIGHT IN THE INDUSTRIAL ZONE, CLOSE TO THE PLACE OF WORK. AS A RESULT, DUST AND SUSPENDED MATTER COVERS THE TOWN AND CLOGS THE LUNGS OF ADULTS AND CHILDREN. ((VIDEO SHOWS INTERVIEW WITH G. PILIPCHUK, A GYNECOLOGIST)) ((PILIPCHUK)) THE STATE OF HEALTH OF OUR WOMEN, AND ACTUALLY THE STATE OF HEALTH OF ALL THE POPULATION OF OUR RAYON, DOES NOT GIVE US THE MEDICS CAUSE FOR OPTIMISM. LATELY, THE GROWTH OF BIRTH DEFECTS AMONG THE NEWBORN AND THE HIGH RATE OF MORBIDITY IN THE FIRST MONTHS OR YEARS OF LIFE HAVE BEEN OBSERVED, AND WE THE MEDICAL WORKERS CONNECT IT TO THE DAMAGING INFLUENCE OF OUR CHEMICAL AND MINING INDUSTRY. ((KRUTOV)) CONSTRUCTORS DO NOT EVEN USE WATER FROM THE CITY'S RIVER, AND I DO NOT MEAN FOR DRINKING -- FOR MIXING CEMENT. THE WATER IS SO BAD THAT THE CEMENT CRUMBLES. DALNEGORSK IS CALLED THE CHERNOBYL OF THE FAR EAST. ((VIDEO SHOWS MORE AERIAL SHOTS OF THE CITY, CUTS TO AN INTERVIEW WITH L. SPITSYN, MACHINIST AT THE 'BOR' INDUSTRIAL ASSOCIATION)) ((SPITSYN)) THE PREDATORY LOOTING THAT WENT ON ALL OVER THE COUNTRY EXISTS HERE TOO. I MEAN THE MAIN THING WAS TO GRAB, NO MATTER HOW, WHAT, OR WHERE. GRABBING IS THE MAIN GOAL. THE ECONOMY SHOULD BE ECONOMICAL, SO LET US ECONOMIZE BY STARTING WITH THE UNCLAS 3S/LD STV Approved for Release 2000 (6) (3)
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.