Dept. of StateExplained

UFO reference in Georgian airspace dispute — Moscow diplomatic cable

~Oct 28, 2001Kodori Gorge, Abkhazia, Georgia (approx.)

Analysis — our summary

A U.S. Embassy Moscow cable dated October 30, 2001 reports diplomatic exchanges regarding alleged Russian aircraft violations of Georgian airspace over the Kodori Gorge on October 28-29. Russian MFA official Tereoken, denying the incidents, remarked that unattributed planes in the area 'might as well have been about UFOs.' The U.S. Embassy commentary assessed this as a diplomatic deflection, noting Russia likely sought to maintain pressure on Georgian and Chechen groups in the gorge.

As reported — verbatim from the document

“Tereoken said reports of planes in the area might as well have been about 'UFOs.' Moscow, he explained, does not have the technical capability to determine whether there were foreign planes in the region.”

Analyst notes — caveats & confidence

The document uses the term 'UFO' only as a diplomatic analogy; no genuine unidentified aerial object was reported. Declassified by State Dept Acting-Director 2/25/2026. OCR quality is good. Confidence is high that this is NOT a UAP incident; filed as explained/conventional context.

Provenance

Source document059UAP00011.pdf

Document typediplomatic cable

Reporting agencyDept. of State

Source pages5

DeclassifiedFirst public at this release (2026)

Held classified~25 years (≥, to this release)

Extraction confidence HighHow cleanly this record could be parsed from the source — driven by legibility & redaction. It is not a measure of how credible or anomalous the sighting is.