A day or two later the Reuters correspondent was granted an interview with retired SAF Major General A.P. Strolyarov, a former Technical Services Officer who headed the group. He confirmed the existence of the committee and said as well as SAF officers it consisted of 18 astronomers and some 200 in-the-field observers. He also added that they had already recorded five positive sightings.
A Reuters agency release was then immediately filed with the British press (Daily Telegraph?), who on November 12 picked up the story and published details.
Approximately one week later the reporter again sought an interview with Major General Strolyarov but on this occasion met without success. The General's secretary politely but firmly informed the Reuters representative that Strolyarov was no longer available for interview.
On December 12 1967, the British Embassy in Moscow received a directive from London stating that it should further investigate the subject, with a view to possible British-Russian co-operation in the observation of UFOs.
A Scientific Counselor from the Embassy subsequently visited the State Committee for Science and Technology and inquired about the UFO Commission. The British plan of co-operation was apparently freely discussed and the counselor was then informed that the British Government would receive a reply to their request in due course.
However, no reply was forthcoming and on January 8 1968, while on a routine visit to the Soviet State Committee for Science and Technology, the British Scientific Counselor was told the following: The commission for investigating UFOs had been set up in response to a popular demand. The commssion had met twice, but since there was insufficient information to sustain it the commission would be disbanded after the next meeting.
The British were naturally suspicious, and the Embassy Counselor was of the opinion that the original announcement of the work of the UFO commission aired on TV was an oversight on the part of the censors, because the commission had not been reported or referred to anywhere else. He also believed the commission had not been disbanded, but that it was continuing its appointed task undercover.
Of course, following the break-up of the United Soviet Socialist Republic and a ensuing greater freedom of information, we now know that this specific Russian commission was successfully continuing in its research into Unidentified Flying Objects for some time.
British Govt. Sought Russian Co-operation Over UFOs
In early November 1967, a Reuters correspondent watched a Moscow TV presentation devoted to Unidentified Flying Objects. The program made reference to the fact that the Russians had recently established a committee of their own in order to study UFOs.
