Description

Summary:

On August 25, 1968, at the Skulte military airfield near Riga, Latvia (then USSR), cameraman Zigurds Dūdiņš of Riga Film Studio was filming Soviet jet tests for a state documentary when pilots abruptly spotted a massive pyramid-shaped object hovering silently at high altitude (estimated 7–20 km). Military witnesses reported no radar signature and "movement inside" the structure. As jets diverted to intercept, the object vanished instantly at extraordinary speed. Dūdiņš captured 20 seconds of 35mm footage before the KGB seized all evidence—film, notes, and testimonies—declaring it a state secret ("Incident 0868").  

The USSR’s Ministry of Defense (MoD) conducted a decade-long classified UFO study (1978–1987) that included this case. Researchers concluded the object was a "genuine UFO" based its flight characteristics, lack of propulsion signatures, and radar invisibility.

In the early 1990s, during Russia’s glasnost openness, investigative journalist George Knapp—aided by a government physicist—accessed the MoD’s UFO archives. A rare bootleg copy survived; lab technicians covertly duplicated it before confiscation, but most were later seized from staff. He smuggled the classified footage and documents to the U.S., later confirming Soviet authorities deemed it authentic. A poor-quality 11.5-second clip emerged in 2004 on History Channel’s "Soviet UFO Secrets Revealed" – now the only publicly available version.

Skeptics have tried to debunk this video by the following theories but have failed.

1. Weather/Spy Balloons:Dismissed due to the object’s altitude, triangular structure, movement, invisibility to radar, and instantaneous acceleration.
2. Propaganda balloons ("freedom balloons") from NATO were suggested (launched during the 1968 Czechoslovakia crisis), but their small size (~2m), lack of maneuverability, and design mismatches discredit this.

Sources:

11.5 second film – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZePSgsyKYBI

George Knapp talking about the film in august 2023 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2J1lAaSrm-w

Latvian Youtuber – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zE_qGXzz1xE

In-depth article about the film – https://leufo.blogspot.com/2013/08/1968.html

UFO files "Soviet UFO Secrets Revealed" 2004 - (ufo film begins at 15mins - 16mins ) –

* https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1710217/
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuNFsh01_a8