events
Cold War: Soviet Air Defence Forces pilot Viktor Belenko lands a Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 jet fighter at Hakodate in Japan and requests political asylum in the United States; his request is granted.
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Cold War
1947–1991 geopolitical rivalry between US and USSR
The Cold War was a period of global geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which began in the aftermath of the Second World War and ended with the…Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
Soviet Air Defence Forces
Air defense branch of the Soviet Armed Forces
The Soviet Air Defence Forces was the air defence branch of the Soviet Armed Forces.Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
Viktor Belenko
Soviet pilot who defected to the West (1947–2023)
Viktor Ivanovich Belenko was a Soviet-born American aerospace engineer and pilot who defected in 1976 to the West while flying his MiG-25 "Foxbat" jet interceptor and landed in Hakodate, Japan. George H. W. Bush, the Director of Central Intelligence at the time, called the…Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25
Family of interceptor and reconnaissance aircraft
The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 is a supersonic interceptor and reconnaissance aircraft that is among the fastest military aircraft to enter service. Designed by the Soviet Union's Mikoyan-Gurevich bureau, it is an aircraft built primarily using stainless steel. It was to be the…Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
Hakodate
Core city in Hokkaido, Japan
Hakodate is a city and port located in Oshima Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the capital city of Oshima Subprefecture. As of January 31, 2024, the city had an estimated population of 239,813 with 138,807 households, and a population density of 354 inhabitants per square…Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
Refugee
Displaced person
A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as a result of who they are, what…Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)