In the US, declassified an interview with the Soviet defector

As an American officer explains, in Victor 1973, at that time 27-year-old senior lieutenant of the Soviet Air Force hijacked the L-29 training aircraft to Iran and from there moved to America. There he began to cooperate with intelligence - the secret services knew him under the code name Defector source 306 (“source-defector No. 306”). "Victor" gave information on the training of pilots, aircraft and weapons. In addition, he attended US Air Force schools and talked about the Soviet air force.

According to Kilikauskas, these lectures could not accommodate everyone, so it was decided to record an interview with Viktor. Presumably, the recording was made in 1973 year. In July, the 2015 film was declassified by a decision of the Interdepartmental Appeals Commission on the assignment of categories of secrecy (case number 2005 – 030). Cryptome indicates that the site received a disc from an anonymous source, but the reputation of the site allows you to trust its publications.

The first question that “Victor” answers is why he, an experienced pilot, a member of the party with brilliant career prospects, decided to flee the USSR. “Victor” explains that the decision was hard for him and was not spontaneous: he talks about dissatisfaction with the Soviet system. According to him, the communist philosophy is outdated and not connected with reality, and the reality in which the only party eradicates any political opposition and imprisons dissidents in the camps is “close to fascist”. At the same time, it was only after he was transferred to the air base near the Soviet-Iranian border that he could proceed to the preparation of the escape: before that he served in the central regions of the USSR, it was impossible to fly away from there unnoticed.

"Victor" describes his escape in detail: he devoted two years to preparing, drawing up a route, studying the location of Soviet air defense systems and bases of the Iranian Air Force near the border, and searching for a place to land. In January, 1973, when the preparations were completed, Victor flew from the base to a planned solo flight, and under the cover of clouds, being in the blind radar zone (radius about 3600 meters), headed towards Iran at an altitude of about 180 meters. Having flown into the radar coverage area, the Victor dropped to nine meters and flew about eight minutes at a speed of 560 kilometers per hour. He flew over Iran for another two hours: without meeting a single interceptor and having exhausted the supply of fuel, he landed in an emergency area in a planned area.

After describing the escape, "Victor" goes to the story of the Soviet Air Force. He tells how pilots are trained - lists 14 higher flying schools (according to him, those entering this or that school did not know what kind of pilots there were trained: this information was considered secret). The defector tells how many pilots the USSR trains per year, what percentage and for what they deduct. “Victor” describes the usual day of the Soviet pilot, talks about the conditions of service: the living conditions are poor, but the lieutenant receives 220 rubles per month with an average salary in the country at 140, which is still three to four times less than the earnings of the American pilot.

According to Victor, Soviet aircraft are inferior to American aircraft in all respects: both in design and in electronic equipment (computer systems were already used in the USA, in the USSR they were not yet available), in flight characteristics, and in weapon characteristics. However, during the Vietnam War, Soviet pilots concluded that the performance characteristics (tperformance characteristics) are not decisive: at maximum speeds no one flies. After Vietnam, the USSR also understood the importance of radio interference, began to learn to fly closer to the ground.

There are not so many cases of the hijacking of military aircraft from the USSR a dozen similar incidents. One of the two cases that occurred in the 1973 year is about escaping to Iran. Made it "pilot instructor Armavir College Safronov. This surname is mentioned in other publications on the Web (sometimes together with the title - captain), but the sources of this information are not indicated anywhere.

On specialized forums you can stumble upon the mention of Yuri Nikolaevich Safronov - graduate Yeysk Higher Military Aviation School of Pilots. According to this information, after graduating from college in 1968, Safronov in 1973 flew to Iran on an L-29 aircraft from an airfield in the Azerbaijan SSR. On the EVWAUL website in the list of graduates of the school, indeed, Set Yuri Nikolayevich Safronov, released in 1968 year.

Armavir College, where Safronov worked as an instructor (now - Krasnodar Higher Military Aviation School for Pilots), in the 1970-ies used the airfields in the territory of the Azerbaijan SSR - you can find mention four airfieldstwo of which, Adjikabul and Salyan, are in Azerbaijan. Both pilots were trained, including on L-29. Judging by the map shown in the film (the video fragment begins with the mark 12: 55), "Victor" flew just from the airfield Salyan.

В various sources There is also information about the biography of Safronov. These data are fragmentary; A discussion participant telling about them refers only to unnamed "pilot classmates." In particular, it is said that Safronov came from a "very decent diplomatic family" and "loved to listen to Western voices on the radio." There is no great reason to trust this information, but they would explain why the Soviet pilot, not spending much time in the States (no more than a few months passed between the Victor’s escape and the estimated recording time of the interview), he quickly learned to speak English. "Victor" speaks with an accent, in his speech there are many constructions that give out to a Russian-speaking person, but it is unlikely that this level of English was characteristic of graduates of Soviet flight schools in 60's. And yet, it is impossible to say for sure that “Victor” is Yury Safronov. About how the fate of "Victor" in the United States, there is no information.

"Forum" wrote earlier that children of two russian spieswho worked undercover in the United States and Canada, are fighting for the preservation of Canadian citizenship, which they acquired while their parents lived in Toronto under fictitious names and worked for Russian intelligence.