Soviet 'Setka' UFO research
A secret Soviet state programme, run jointly by the Ministry of Defence and the Academy of Sciences from 1978, to study anomalous aerial phenomena.
1978 CE · 55.75, 37.62 · status: official
The account
It was launched after the 1977 Petrozavodsk 'jellyfish' sighting and ran in two tracks: Setka-MO (defence) studied effects on military equipment, and Setka-AN (the Academy) studied the physics. Military units were ordered to report sightings for over a decade. Participants later said most of thousands of cases had ordinary explanations, while a small fraction stayed anomalous. An FBIS press note of 22 November 1989 records the open phase of Soviet UFO study. It reports a 'permanent center' for anomalous phenomena in Moscow, a new All-Union Commission chaired by Vladimir Azhazha, and IZMIRAN scientists such as Yu. Platov explaining many cases as rockets or ball lightning. It also mentions a conference of about 100 scientists in Petrozavodsk in October 1989.
The sceptical view
Many 'UFOs' were rocket launches from the secret Plesetsk cosmodrome, which the programme was partly a cover for interpreting. Exact case counts come from later interviews and vary between sources.
Connections in the atlas
- Stolyarov's UFO section and Zigel's television appeal
- Voronezh landing
- The Borisov aircrew and the beam of light
- Height 611 (Dalnegorsk)
- FBIS on the 1989 Soviet UFO wave
- Soviet Navy USO reports