Soviet advisors in Vietnam
During the Vietnam War, the Soviet Union provided technical and material assistance to its North Vietnamese ally. The Soviets sent air defense equipment and personnel to equip and train the North Vietnamese. Experienced Soviet Air Force pilots and maintenance personnel were sent to train and repair MiG aircraft flown by the North Vietnamese and to provide advice and assistance to North Vietnamese anti-air defense forces that were shooting down American combat aircraft with Soviet missile equipment.
About four years ago, the U.S. side began to gather evidence that Soviet officials directly interrogated American POWs in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. This project examined information from three primary sources: the testimony of former American POWs; the testimony of Soviet veterans of the Vietnam War who had knowledge of direct Soviet participation in POW interrogation; and U.S. Intelligence Community reports that suggest the Soviets sought or obtained direct access to American POWs for interrogation. The research conducted in support of this project shows that Soviet officials participated in interrogation of American POWs and received interrogation reports from the North Vietnamese. It is reasonable to assume that Soviet military officials generated these reports in North Vietnam and forwarded them to Moscow for processing. These interrogation reports should be available today in Russian archives [probably those of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) and the Committee for State Security (KGB)] and might contribute to clarifying the fates of unaccounted-for Americans. For this reason, the U.S. side seeks access to these materials.
Early in the Vietnam War, a Soviet special group, or "spetsgruppa," composed of GRU officers and employees from various Soviet military industrial organizations, was deployed to North Vietnam to acquire captured American combat equipment and to arrange for shipment of this equipment to the Soviet Union for technical exploitation. Although the U.S. has no interest in the classified aspects of this program, Soviet spetsgruppa members and technicians may be able to provide new details about shoot-down incidents in North Vietnam. For instance, in 1992, representatives of Task Force Russia (the predecessor of JCSD) discovered an F-111 crew capsule at the Moscow Aviation Institute. With assistance from FBI experts, Task Force Russia analysts correlated the capsule to a specific shoot-down incident. While the crew that was flying this particular F-111 is accounted for, discovery of the capsule in a Russian facility demonstrates the potential that American combat equipment now held by the Russians might provide clues to the fates of crew members who did not return. Archival records documenting the spetsgruppa’s work might also provide valuable information about American loss incidents during the war. The U.S. side has pressed the Russian side repeatedly for access to these archival materials and for interviews with spetsgruppa members and continues to press for more information. The Russian side has expressed a willingness to assist the U.S. side in locating spetsgruppa members but has yet to fulfill this promise.