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Approved For Release 2003/04/18 : CIA-RDP96-00787R000500420001-2 ae | [ DST~1810S-387-75 September 1975 towards parapsychology." "Obviously," they wrote, "some so-called para~ psychological phenomena do happen; however, the main obstacle to the acceptance of their existence is ignorance of the basis of their opera-— tion." It is not clear from this paper just which parapsychological phenomena "obviously do happen;" the only ones which the authors unam— biguously supported as authentic were Kirlian photography (radiation field photogrpahy by means of which the biological energy fields of plants and animals may be visualized) and "dermal-optical vision" (the alleged ability to see colors through opaque shielding by touch alone). Paradoxically, Kirlian photography is probably based on known forms of energy, while dermal-optical vision has no known basis in fact. A large portion of the paper was in fact devoted to a denunciation of "militant parapsychologists," popular credulity, fraudulent practices, physicists who quite unnecessarily change their jobs to investigate paranormal phenomena, sensationalistic journalists, and institutions such as the Institute for Technical Parapsychology (which was cited by name). Ap-~ parently, the objective of the paper was to discredit as myth any idea of a "“parapsychological movement" in the Soviet Union, and to insure that the science of parapsychology should not continue to emerge. To quote the authors, "there is no need for parapsychology to exist as a separate discipline." (U) There is additional evidence that the official attitude toward parapsychology in the Soviet Union may have changed. In the 1960's, maar, Moscow parapsychologist Edward K. Naumov was recognized internationally as the unofficial Soviet spokesman for the science. In March of 1974, Naumov was arrested and sentenced to two years hard labor. In January 1975, parapsychologist Larissa Vilenskaya, who had previously been per- mitted to visit Naumov in jail, was herself arrested. The reason for her arrest is not known, but Naumov was apparently convicted of taking fees for his lectures without the permission of the appropriate authorities. According to reports from the Soviet Union, the fees seem to have been collected in the normal way by the club's director and his assistant. However, both were subsequently declared psychologically unfit to testify, certified schizophrenic, and referred for some unspecified form of invol- untary treatment at the Serbskiy Institute of Forensic Psychological Ex- pertise. This Institute's director, Dr. Andrej Snezhnevsky, is widely known for his psychiatric zeal on behalf of ideological orthodoxy and for, his opposition to parapsychology. At the trial Snezhnevsky himself gave evidence to the effect that parapsychology was a pseudoscience based on idealism and mysticism. Although 40 witnesses said they had bought their. tickets from the club's director or his representative, Naumov was found | guilty and sentenced to two years in a camp. According to Lev Regelson, a Moscow physicist, Naumov's offense was twofold: first, despite reiter-_ ated warnings from the KGB he had "maintained free, personal, human con- . tacts with foreign scholars..." and made use of the material he received 6 ' Approved For Release shasunarte «cia. nad-g0787R000500420001-2 STAT