Intelligence Information Report, USSR, 1973

This file is another copy of the CIA Intelligence Information Report on the Soviet Sary Shagan weapons range in Kazakhstan, dated December 1973; the first copy released is CIA-UAP-011. Like all such reports, it is labeled raw information, not finally evaluated intelligence. Its interest here lies in paragraph 14, the source’s account of something he could not identify.

The sighting in detail

The source, a former Soviet citizen who had worked at the range, said that on an evening in late summer 1973 he was at Site 7, watching a Canada–USSR sports competition on television, and went outside for air. He saw a sharp, bright green circular object or mass to the west, at an angle of about 70 degrees above the horizon. There were no clouds, and he thought it was higher than cloud level would have been, but he could not judge its altitude or size. Within 10 to 15 seconds the green circle widened, and soon several concentric green rings formed around it. Within minutes the color was gone. There was no sound, such as an explosion.

The interviewer’s notes say the source had no opinion about what he saw, could add nothing further, and knew of no rumors about it afterward.

Reading it

The surrounding paragraphs describe missile warheads checked at the range and rumors of laser experiments, so the sighting sits in a place where rocket launches were routine. Expanding glowing rings are also described in many reports of rocket exhaust seen at high altitude, but this report offers no explanation.