Fleet Admiral Nikolai Smirnov
Fleet Admiral Nikolai Ivanovich Smirnov was a senior officer in the Soviet Navy who, following a significant USO encounter by the submarine repair ship Vulga in 1977, issued a formal directive mandating that Soviet hydrographic, scientific research, and reconnaissance ships report UFO sightings to naval authorities. His directive represents the Soviet equivalent of American reporting mandates such as OPNAV 3820 and JANAP 146C.
| Role | Fleet Admiral, Soviet Navy |
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Mandatory UFO Reporting Directive
On October 7, 1977, the Soviet submarine repair ship Vulga reported that nine bright discs circled the vessel for 18 minutes in the Barents Sea while ship communications malfunctioned. In response to this and similar incidents, Smirnov issued a directive making UFO sighting reports mandatory for Soviet vessels in specified categories. The directive was authorized by naval officer and UFO researcher Vladimir Azhazha and signed by Naval Deputy Chief of Staff P. Noitov. The case and the resulting directive are documented in Russia's USO Secrets by Paul Stonehill and Philip Mantle and in Jacques Vallée's UFO Chronicles of the Soviet Union (pages 29–30). See Soviet Submarine Repair Ship Vulga Sighting.