Today, about fifty Russian-made fighters fly in US airspace - from the outdated MIG-15 to the modern MIG-29. Most of them were acquired on the open market after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the termination of the Warsaw Pact. In Soviet times, the Americans did not have a chance to acquire our combat vehicles, although the States were ready for anything for this.
On September 6, 1976, an emergency occurred: during a training flight at one of the Far Eastern airfields in Primorye, Senior Lieutenant Viktor Belenko took off in an ultramodern MiG-25, and did not return to base.
The MiG-25 was not a simple aircraft, but the real pride of Soviet engineers. The high-altitude fighter-interceptor, according to NATO classification, was called the Flying Fox. In the West, unique characteristics were attributed to this aircraft, but there was no test of their capabilities: the Soviet Union knew how to keep its secrets.
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For Soviet artists and pop artists, Belenko's escape closed the road to Japan for a long time. Tours in Japan were disrupted for Soviet musical groups, even for those of them who had already received Soviet exit and Japanese entry visas, the tours were canceled without explaining the reasons by the governing bodies of the Soviet stage.
Conclusion
Viktor Belenko was sentenced in absentia to capital punishment for treason. Probably because of this, he did not even look for contacts with relatives.
In the Soviet Union, he is survived by his mother, wife and little son. But even after the collapse of the USSR, Belenko never got in touch with his loved ones. My wife lived in the Far East for a long time, then moved to Armavir.