In the latest episode of The Big Picture, the discussion turns to anomalous phenomena. While many regard UFOs as fiction, unexplained events have been reported around the world, sometimes leaving physical traces. In Voronezh, where a UFO allegedly landed in the late 1980s, radiation levels reportedly remain around five times above the norm. Strange mummies with unusual proportions have also been found in the caves of Peru. The remains of two such beings were presented at hearings in Mexico’s Congress.
The Soviet Union had its own classified programme, codenamed ‘Setka’. The country’s Ministry of Defence and the Academy of Sciences collected and systematised UFO reports in an attempt to distinguish genuine physical proof from fake evidence.
Following a US government order in 2026, the Pentagon began to release previously classified archives on anomalous phenomena and UFOs. The materials include both previously known and newly released reports of unidentified flying objects. However, the documents do not specify the objects’ size or their precise locations – an approach which fuels distrust and conspiracy theories.
Eena Norkunaite meets Nikolay Subbotin, Director of the Russian UFO Research Station; and Pavel Poluyan, a physicist and Associate Professor at Siberian Federal University, to discuss how real the UFO phenomenon may be, what could lie behind unidentified anomalous phenomena, and why the military only selectively discloses data.
