The declassified report is the first official testimony of one of the most influential senators in the United States, who claims to have witnessed UFO sightings. “…saw the first flying disc ascend and pass over the train…”
After remaining classified for 61 years, a report made by The Air Force Intelligence was declassified offering valuable details of a UFO sighting witnessed by senior US Senator and former Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, Richard Brevard Russell. In the report, Richard Brevard Russell testifies about the sighting of two unidentified flying objects as they were taking off.
According to information published in a British newspaper, on October 4, 1955, Russell was in the former Soviet Union collecting data in the Transcaucasian region, when, through the window of the train in which he traveled, he observed the takeoff of two objects of circular shape, near the tracks.
Interestingly, the sighting was observed by the senator and two of his assistants, who upon arrival at the American embassy in Prague gave notice to the Air Force and were questioned by the CIA.
The information provided was considered “highly confidential” and classified during all these years. Its relevance lies in the fact that it is the first official testimony of one of the most influential senators in the United States, who claims to have witnessed UFO sightings.
“One disc ascended almost vertically, at a relatively slow speed, with its outer surface revolving slowly to the right, to an altitude of about 6000 feet, where its speed then increased sharply as it headed north,” the report states . “The second flying disc was seen performing the same actions about one minute later. The take-off area was about 1-2 miles south of the rail line.”
Russell “saw the first flying disc ascend and pass over the train,” and went “rushing in to get Mr. Efron (Ruben Efron, his interpreter) and Col. Hathaway (Col. E. U. Hathaway, his aide) to see it,” the report said. “Col. Hathaway stated that he got to the window with the Senator in time to see the first (UFO), while Mr. Efron said that he got only a short glimpse of the first. However, all three saw the second disc and all agreed that they saw the same round, disc-shaped craft as the first.” The Air Force report was written by Lieut. Col. Thomas Ryan, who interviewed Senator Russell’s companions in Prague, Czechoslovakia, on October 13, after they arrived there from Russia shortly after the sighting.
An eyewitness, whose name was blacked out on the CIA report prior to its declassification said one of the UFO’s “had a slight dome on top” and also a “white light on top.” The edge of the disc was glowing pinkish-white, he added. The UFO rose “vertically with the glow moving slowly around the perimeter in a clockwise direction, giving the appearance of a pinwheel.”