A Milkman, a Van, and a UFO: Fifty-Three Cold War Media Digests in the CIA UFO Collection

A newly merged CIA/FBIS media digest from 6 November 1990 joins fifty-two previously documented items in the CIA UFO collection, adding a Moscow UFO almanac reference to a record built almost entirely from routine Cold War broadcast monitoring.

Published

September 18, 2026

Declassified

Date not listed

Source agency

The Black Vault (FOIA archive)

foiaciaufouapsovietairdefensechief

Opening summary

S. government files during the Cold War without any UAP investigation attached. Fifty-two of them were already documented in this article.

The fifty-third, newly merged here, is a CIA FBIS 'Comlist: Moscow Consolidated 6 Nov 90' digest, cataloged as C00175467 (AFSN TB0711150090C), marked UNCLASSIFIED, spanning pages 32-41 of a 149-page release. Its item 123 in the 'update' segment includes a reporter's description of a 'new almanac of ufo's which has just come off press in moscow' (4 min).

The collection also includes a CIA-released FBIS Concatenated Daily Report, 1992, Document 6 of 10, cataloged as C00174881, report number FBIS-SOV-92-003, dated 04 Jan 92, marked UNCLASSIFIED/FOUO and approved for release. Its text relays a TASS item crediting MOSKOVSKAYA PRAVDA with the report that Moscow Aviation Institute designers built a 'thermoplane' airship outwardly resembling a flying saucer, with tests conducted at the Ulyanovsk aviation industrial complex in the Volga region.

Background and context

The documents…

Continue reading with DeclassifyAI Premium. Get unlimited access to declassified document analysis, source-linked investigations, newsletters, and topic alerts for $10/month.

$10/month · Billed every 30 days from your signup date

This analysis is based on officially released government source documents. The original government source link remains available above for transparency. Premium is $10/month. Checkout opens when live billing is enabled.

Source verification

This article is based on an officially released source document linked below.

DeclassifyAI summarizes and analyzes the document — it does not replace the original release.

Review the original government source material directly for full context and verification.

The official source link is provided so you can confirm provenance yourself.

The newly merged document is a CIA FBIS 'Comlist: Moscow Consolidated 6 Nov 90' digest, cataloged as C00175467 (AFSN TB0711150090C), marked UNCLASSIFIED, spanning pages 32-41 of a 149-page release. It is preserved in the CIA UFO collection hosted by The Black Vault. The document is a media monitoring report, not an analytical intelligence assessment; the text is a translation/summary and may contain transcription errors. A footer references 'The Black Vault' FOIA clearinghouse and John Greenewald, Jr. as the researcher who obtained the document. Official source documents referenced in this article: - https://www.theblackvault.com/documentarchive/ufos-the-central-intelligence-agency-cia-collection/

Official Source DocumentSource Link Provided

Disclaimer

This article is based on declassified or officially released source material. DeclassifyAI summarizes and analyzes the linked government document. Always review the original official source directly — linked above — before relying on any summary or interpretation. Illustrations shown with articles are not part of the originally released documents; they are added by DeclassifyAI for substance when the source release does not include usable imagery.