KGB UFO Blue Folder Released After Soviet Dissolution, Cosmonaut Popovitch Requests Files
After Gorbachev dissolves the KGB by November 1991, many coveted files find their way abroad, including to the CIA. The KGB's UFO files — the infamous 'Blue Folder' — are released in October upon request of the famous cosmonaut Pavel Popovitch. The files are a bonanza, repeatedly confirming the reality of UFOs in the air and on the ground, seen by Soviet military personnel and registered on their radar screens. ABC correspondent David Ensor studies the files for several months during 1995, interviewing dozens of Russian military personnel, government officials, and scientists, learning of some 40 major incidents — one of which prompted fears of starting an accidental nuclear war. Although the files are clearly not complete, they provide a counterpart to the American FOIA releases. In both cases, the files are released as a result of political crisis — Vietnam/Watergate for America, and the breakup of the Soviet Union for Russia.
Background
The account states that Gorbachev completed the dissolution of the KGB by November 1991 and that, amid this political disintegration, coveted files—including the KGB UFO files known as the “Blue Folder”—made their way abroad. The same passage, however, says that the files had already been released in October at the request of cosmonaut Pavel Popovitch. The dating is internally inconsistent; the account does not establish a causal sequence in which the November dissolution preceded an October release. The files were said to contain reports by Soviet military personnel and radar observations. ABC correspondent David Ensor examined them in 1995 and reported learning of about 40 major incidents. The collection is described as incomplete and as a counterpart to the U.S. files released through FOIA.