The chief ufologist of Russia
Honorary President of the Academy of Ufology Vladimir Georgievich Azhazha, is an old friend of mine. Today he is a professor at the Department of Philosophy at the Institute of Business and Politics in Moscow, and leads a group of graduate and doctoral students. He is treated with reverence, like an aksakal. Writes books. Incredibly productive.
Last year I published five books, this year four are coming out.
In the 70s, I began my career at the Novosti Press Agency in Moscow and invited a former submariner, UFO research enthusiast V. G. I'm thrilled for one of our journalistic club Thursdays.
Then the topic of "flying saucers" was banned. Azhazha's lecture on this phenomenon, intended for a narrow circle, unexpectedly received scandalous notoriety due to the fact that one of the Western news agencies made public the content and theses of his speech. Samizdat copies of the lecture began to walk around the country. Me and my colleagues in the club were reprimanded by the bosses, but no one had the power to outshine Azhazha's glory.
Thanks to a chance, I restored the connection I had lost with Vladimir Georgievich for many years. At Russian Film Week in New York last October, I was approached by a nice American woman, a Seattle film festival selector with a strange surname Ajaja. It turned out to be the wife of his son, who works as the general representative of Aeroflot in Seattle. The professor still has a daughter, she lives in Moscow, as well as four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
- Vladimir Georgievich, do you remember the scandal with your lecture at the APN?
- Well, of course. And even mentioned it in one of my books.
- During these almost thirty years, have you established your views on UFOs or are you gnawing at the worm of doubt?
- Not at all! I have not only strengthened, but now I know a lot. After all, I'm a researcher, a scientist. By November 7 of last year, when I celebrated my 80th birthday, my colleagues had compiled my track record, which is very impressive, I must say.
- Well, I congratulate you retroactively, it's a big date.
- Despite my age, I feel a manifestation of some childishness in myself. I think this is the main thing in a person - so that he feels interest and passion for life.
- What are the most striking events in the last three decades that have strengthened your belief in the reality of UFOs?
- From 1990 to 1995, I was the head of a public ufological center. Thousands of ufologists have worked for me, and we managed to collect a lot of convincing information. On the basis of it, I became convinced that there is a supercivilization that differs from the human level of development. I have data on its super-technology. Humanity as a carrier of reason in the Universe is not alone. Whether we like it or not, a neighbor lives next to us. In 2000, we received an international patent for the discovery of "the non-uniqueness of the mind in the Universe." On January 5, 2001, I spoke on this topic in New York, at the UN building, within the framework of a conference on the responsibility of intellectual leaders for the sustainable development of the world.
- So, there is a civilization unknown to us on Earth?
- I didn't say - on Earth. I said that in some near-earth space there is a civilization, and on Earth it manifests itself. People have visited the moon, but that does not mean that we live there. I am talking about the near space, God has not yet given us horns to distant ones.
- Does this civilization reveal itself on purpose to be noticed, or does it come into our field of vision by chance?
- We will come back to this issue. I want to draw your attention to a whole direction in ufology - underwater UFOs. Several documentaries were released, dozens of submarine commanders were interviewed. The former commander-in-chief of the Navy Cher-nyavin spoke on television. I have commented on all these films. Sometime, in 1976, the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense commissioned me to research work "Hydrospheric Aspect of UFOs." I have written instructions for observing UFOs from ships and vessels. Then it was modified for other types of troops.
- What exactly did you find out as a result of underwater surveys?
- When Russian submarines went out on combat patrols with missiles, interfering sounds appeared at different frequencies, the so-called “Quakers”, reminiscent of the croaking of frogs. I myself am a naval officer by my first profession and I know very well that the main weapon of a submarine is stealth. And then there is a feeling that you are discovered. And just as the commander does not try to turn away from these "Quakers", they are always right on course. Attempts to tie their appearance to specific geographic points fail, they change their location instantly. It turns out that "Quakers" are technologically organized, defensive, maneuvering obstacles controlled by reason. Cases have become more frequent when UFOs appear over submarines of new modifications leaving the port into the open ocean - and they always go out on the surface, and then submerge. There were caseswhen UFOs dived down under the water, there were cases when they flew out from under the water. There was an assumption about the existence of zones of intense appearance of unidentified objects - they called the areas of the island of Puerto Rico, Lake Baikal, the island of Guam. The speeches of the Prime Minister of Grenada in 1977-78 at the UN added fuel to the fire, he loudly complained about UFOs that prevent the Grenadians from living. After analyzing the testimony of more than two thousand reputable witnesses, I came to the conclusion that there are about 150 permanent UFO bases on Earth, of which about 50 are underwater. The speeches of the Prime Minister of Grenada in 1977-78 at the UN added fuel to the fire, he loudly complained about UFOs that prevent the Grenadians from living. After analyzing the testimony of more than two thousand reputable witnesses, I came to the conclusion that there are about 150 permanent UFO bases on Earth, of which about 50 are underwater. The speeches of the Prime Minister of Grenada in 1977-78 at the UN added fuel to the fire, he loudly complained about UFOs that prevent the Grenadians from living. After analyzing the testimony of more than two thousand reputable witnesses, I came to the conclusion that there are about 150 permanent UFO bases on Earth, of which about 50 are underwater.
- Well, what is the evidence for the existence of aliens? The stories about the kidnapping by them are absolutely fantastic.
- Nothing fancy. On the aforementioned island of Puerto Rico, there are people whom the humanoid aliens persuaded to work at their bases, there are people whom they abducted. The most curious thing is that the entrances to these bases are guarded by American military personnel. These facts are published in my monograph "Underwater UFOs", which will soon be published. Many facts are known confirming that aliens use fresh water as fuel for their vehicles, which is decomposed into oxygen and hydrogen, which is strongly compressed. This is their nuclear fuel. A number of UFO accidents, such as the blast at Ubatuba Beach in Brazil, have revealed the presence of metal isotopes at the site, which are materials for the hulls of their vehicles. Large UFO bases are located in the Pyrenees and the Himalayas. As Rene Descartes said,choose the right words and you will free humanity from half of the misunderstandings. The era of the demise of the term UFO, in English UFO, is coming. We have already accumulated enough information to call them moving alien objects - DOP. And the science of ufology should be renamed. I suggest - to xenology. From Greek xeno - alien.
- And your opponents will be called xenophobes.
- Quite right (laughs).
- But why don't the aliens come into direct contact with us?
- We do not come into contact with experimental mice and rabbits. And we are just such experimental creatures for them.
- Comparison with rabbits is incorrect. If they had reason, then somehow they winked at us, fleeing from villainous experiments. But they don't contact us!
- One minute. I have been to Roswell, Albuquerque, I am Seattle, I met with the largest American scientists, UFO specialists. They all confirm the existence of aliens.
- But they are all earthlings. Have you met with representatives of an alien civilization?
- I met an alien in 1978. There was no conversation. There was a silent scene. This single close contact is described in my book UFO Chase. The Veche publishing house in honor of my 80th birthday decided to publish a six-volume edition, and this book is the second volume. And the third volume is "Chronicle of the times of flying saucers." It mentions such an interesting discovery. The Frenchman Lefebvre discovered a metal "chip" in Napoleon's skull. Have you read about this?
- Yes, but in a purely feuilleton context, where you are ridiculed as a pseudoscientist and a falsifier, and Lefebvre's "discovery" is called nonsense. You are crushed in this article with terrible force, and they also quote the founder of Russian ufology Felix Siegel, where he gives you an impartial assessment.
- In my book "Chasing UFOs" there is a chapter "Kosygin" - I was at his reception in '76 - and the next chapter is called "Siegel". It ends with the phrase: "What a pity that the iron Felix turned out to be rusty from the inside." But Siegel was an idol for me. He just couldn't stand rivals. I have never hidden Siegel's assessment, I quote it myself. And those who write all sorts of nonsense about me - I simply do not pay attention to them.
- And how do you explain that when people allegedly abducted by aliens return, they have no material evidence of the abduction - no things, no souvenirs, no videos?
- This is the peculiarity of the problem. In the stories of abductions - and there are thousands! - nothing can be typed. Apparently, the aliens are not allowed to take anything with them. Note, I do not like the term "aliens" - there is no evidence that these are visitors from other planets. Where do they live? Everywhere and nowhere. In 1993-95, geostationary satellites took a series of photographs in the region of Mexico, Chile and Bolivia. Flying objects were photographed in infrared rays - just do not fall from the chair - with a diameter of 300 to 450 kilometers. A miniature version of such a flying city in the shape of a chevron or angle passed over the city of Phoenix in Arizona in March 1997, and there was an eclipse there during the day. Panic arose, two fighters were raised. In short, THEY live in flying cities and work with humanity. They need us. There are aliens among us. Hybrids. After all, abducted women often return pregnant.
- Do you support the concept of paleocosmonautics, early visits to Earth by aliens?
- Yes. From the moment people began to feel like people, strange things began to be recorded. And remember: the first cave paintings were hunting scenes, making a fire and flying saucers.
- How to explain that the number of skeptics is not decreasing despite the accumulation of visual observations?
- Recently the newspaper "Moskovsky Komsomolets" contacted me. The question was asked: what does it take to revive ufology? I told them: it is necessary for the aliens to publicly kidnap the Labrador Koni (the favorite dog of President Putin - OS). Then the next day the head institute will be determined, funding will be allocated on a separate line, and ufology from Cinderella will turn into a full-fledged scientific ma-tron. MK published material with the title: "Academician Azhazha: the aliens need to kidnap the Labrador Koni." Can you imagine what noise was?
- There is an easier option: if they land their aircraft on Red Square in Moscow or at the White House in Washington. Better yet, here and there.
- The main thing that hinders progress is the dominance of the concept of the Russian Academy of Sciences, proclaimed many years ago. They say that UFOs do not exist, all these are human delusions associated with the inability to understand atmospheric phenomena and the technical manifestations of human activity. It is difficult for a person to abandon the established stereotypes. The commission on pseudoscience created in the Academy of Sciences not only ignores everything that is written about UFOs, but also tries to shut the ears of others. It is a crime.
- This commission considers you a pseudo-scientist.
- Sure! But they can't do anything to me. I defended my Ph. D. thesis on underwater hydroacoustic search at the Institute of Oceanology of the USSR Academy of Sciences. In the Academic Council, 22 members voted for me with two “against” - this is considered an excellent result. The dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, which I defended in 1997, was called "Conceptual Foundations of Ufology." In 1999 I was elected a full member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences (RANS). In 2002, a star in the constellation Scorpio was named after RANS.
- People are divided into those who believe in UFOs and those who do not. According to this principle, ufology can be considered not a science, but a religion. Believe it or not.
- A scientist has no right to believe. Not everyone knows that Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, who was a believer and did not miss a single prayer service, once said: "I don't allow God into my laboratory." If I do not know, I must strive for knowledge.
- Is the origin of your exotic palindromic surname alien?
- You can write like that (laughs). But in truth, my father is from Ukraine, and, they say, my distant ancestor served as a cook for Bohdan Khmelnitsky. When the formidable hetman asked where the cook was, they showed him somewhere in the distance and said “Already, already, already,” that is, he was far behind. In the Poltava region there is a village where three hundred relatives with the last name Azhazha live.
Interviewed by Oleg SULKIN
