One of the most powerful US senators in modern history witnessed two UFOs during a fact-finding trip to Russia in 1955, and the US government kept the sightings secret for more than three decades.
The incredible encounter is detailed in 12 TOP SECRET reports from the CIA, FBI and Air Force – and declassified in 1985.
These startling reports reveal that Senator Richard B. Russell, Jr. (D-GA), then-Chairman of the Armed Services Committee – was on a Soviet train when he spotted a disc-shaped craft taking off near the tracks.
He quickly called his military aide and interpreter to the window and they saw the UFO, plus another that appeared a minute later. The astonished trio reported the sightings to the US Air Force as soon as they left Russia.
“The three observers were firmly convinced that they saw a genuine flying saucer,” says an Air Force Intelligence report dated October 14, 1955, and classified TOP SECRET at the time.
Senator Russell served 38 years in the Senate. He was the oldest and one of the most influential senators at the time of his death in 1971. He was chairman of the Armed Services Committee from 1951 to 1969 and unsuccessfully sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 1952.
The incomprehensible documents detailing his UFO encounter have been made available by the Fund for UFO Research and its president, Dr. Bruce Maccabee. Several important documents were obtained by the group through the Freedom of Information Act.
“These lengthy classified documents are of great importance because they show for the first time that one of the most powerful US senators witnessed and reported a UFO,” said Dr Maccabee.
The Air Force Intelligence report says Russell and his two traveling companions sighted the UFOs on October 4, 1955, while traveling by train through the Transcaucasus region of Russia.
“A disk rose almost vertically, at a relatively slow speed, with its outer surface rotating slowly to the right, to an altitude of about 6,000 feet, where its speed increased markedly as it headed northward,” the report states.
“The second flying saucer was seen performing the same actions about a minute later. The take-off area was about 1-2 miles south of the railroad tracks.
Russell “saw the first flying saucer go up and pass over the train” and went “running to get Mr. Efron (Ruben Efron, his interpreter) and Colonel Hathaway (Colonel E.U. Hathaway, his aide)” to come see it, the report said.
“Col. Hathaway claimed he arrived at the window with the Senator in time to see the first one, while Mr. Efron said he only caught a brief glimpse of the first one. However, all three saw the second disc and all agreed they saw the same round, disc-shaped craft as the first one.
The Air Force report was written by Lt. Col. Thomas Ryan, who interviewed Senator Russell’s companions in Prague, Czechoslovakia, on October 13, after they arrived from Russia shortly after the sighting.
In his report, Colonel Ryan called the sightings “an eyewitness account of the rise and flight of an unconventional craft by three highly credible United States observers.” He added that Colonel Hathaway began his account of the sightings by saying, “I doubt you’ll believe this, but we all saw it.” Senator Russell was the first to see this flying saucer that we’ve been told for years doesn’t exist, but we all saw it.
CIA documents show that the agency later interviewed the three eyewitnesses to Russell’s party and also a fourth person, unidentified in the reports, who had seen the UFOs.
An eyewitness, whose name was redacted from the CIA report before it was declassified, said one of the UFOs “had a faint dome on top” and also a “white light on top.” The rim of the disc was glowing a 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.”
Interpreter Ruben Efron told the CIA that visibility was excellent. As a UFO approached the train, he said, “the object gave the appearance of gliding. No noise was heard and no exhaust was heard, and no glow or trail of exhaust was seen by me.”
After the meeting, Senator Russell told the men with him:
“We saw a flying saucer. I wanted you to see it so I could have witnesses,” according to the CIA documents.
And an FBI memo, dated November 4, 1955, also discusses the sighting and admits that Colonel Hathaway’s testimony “would support the existence of a flying saucer.”
Dr. Maccabee of the Fund for UFO Research believes that Senator Russell and his group never publicly revealed their incredible sightings “because they were no doubt advised not to. These documents provide startling new evidence that UFOs exist.”
Mr. Tom Towers, in his January 20, 1957, ‘Aviation News’ column for the Los Angeles, CA, Examiner, printed the contents of a letter from Senator Russell, which was in response to a request for information about the sightings in Russia.
Mr. Towers had originally contacted Senator Russell’s office by letter asking for permission to “break” the story.
The senator wrote:
“Permit me to thank you for your letters concerning reports that have reached you of aerial objects seen in Europe during the past year. I have received your letter, but I have discussed this matter with the government agencies concerned, and they are of the opinion that it is unwise to disclose this matter at this time. I very much regret that I am unable to assist you.” The letter was dated January 17, 1956.
