vault backup: 2026-09-22 15:02:34

10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Leonid Vasiliev.md

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 ---
+aliases:
+  - Leonid L. Vasilev
+  - L. L. Vasilev
+  - L. L. Vasil'yev
 category: "Scientists & Researchers"
 tags:
   - Person
   - Researcher
   - Parapsychology
-summary: "By the early 1960s, Vasiliev was heading a well-funded parapsychology laboratory, and his work soon concentrated on 'remote-influencing' experiments, such as attempting to telepathically induce sleep in a distant receiver."
+summary: "Leningrad physiologist who led the Soviet Union's telepathy research from the 1930s and, after 1960, the state laboratory whose work American intelligence tracked for decades."
 born: 1891-04-12
 died: 1966-02-08
-location: "Russia"
+location: "Leningrad, Soviet Union"
+updated: 2026-09-22
 ---
 
+Leonid Vasiliev was a [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] parapsychologist and chairman of the physiology department at the University of Leningrad, a past winner of the Lenin Prize and a key figure in the resurgence of Soviet [[Parapsychology|psi]] research following the publication of [[The Nautilus (Telepathy Project)|"The Secret of the Nautilus"]] article in 1960. He argued that "the discovery of the energy underlying ESP will be equivalent to the discovery of atomic energy."[^1]
 
-[[Leonid Vasiliev]] was a prominent [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] parapsychologist and chairman of the physiology department at the University of Leningrad. A past winner of the Lenin Prize, Vasiliev was a key figure in the resurgence of Soviet [[Parapsychology|psi]] research following the publication of [[The Nautilus (Telepathy Project)|"The Secret of the Nautilus"]] article in 1960. He argued that "the discovery of the energy underlying ESP will be equivalent to the discovery of atomic energy."[^1]
+He stated in April 1960 that Soviet scientists had conducted extensive, unreported investigations into telepathy under the Stalin regime, predating American efforts, and that they had successfully performed telepathy tests over a quarter-century before the alleged U.S. Nautilus tests. He held that the publication of articles like [[Jacques Bergier]]'s "Thought Transfer, Weapon of War" and "The Secret of the Nautilus" in French journals stimulated Soviet research, and used them to advocate for increased Soviet investment in the field: "Today the American Navy is testing telepathy on their atomic submarines. Soviet scientists conducted a great many successful telepathy tests over a quarter of a century ago. It's urgent that we throw off our prejudices. We must plunge into the exploration of this vital field."[^1][^2]
 
-By the early 1960s, Vasiliev was heading a well-funded parapsychology laboratory, and his work soon concentrated on "remote-influencing" experiments, such as attempting to telepathically induce sleep in a distant receiver. His efforts, along with those of other Soviet researchers like [[I. M. Kogan]], contributed to the establishment of numerous other psi research centers in the Soviet Union.[^1]
+By the early 1960s Vasiliev was heading a well-funded parapsychology laboratory, and his work soon concentrated on "remote-influencing" experiments, such as attempting to telepathically induce sleep in a distant receiver. In a 1963 Kremlin edict, the Soviet minister of defense, R. J. Malinosky, declared [[Telepathy]] to be science- and technology-based, leading to the creation of the Special Laboratory for Biocommunications Phenomena at the University of Leningrad, with Vasiliev in charge; its goals included establishing "scientific proof of telepathic communications" and identifying the nature of the brain energy that produces it. His efforts, along with those of other Soviet researchers like [[I. M. Kogan]], contributed to the establishment of numerous other psi research centers in the Soviet Union, and to the Soviet nomenclature around ESP being rewritten to sound technical, severing ties with its occult past: mental telepathy became "long-distance biological signal transmission," and [[Psychokinesis|psychokinesis]] "non-ionizing, in particular electromagnetic, emissions from humans."[^1][^2]
 
-Vasiliev publicly stated in April 1960 that the Soviets had conducted extensive and unreported investigations into telepathy under the Stalin regime, and that they had successfully performed telepathy tests over a quarter-century prior to the alleged U.S. Nautilus tests. He urged Soviet scientists to overcome their prejudices against such research and to explore this vital field, which he believed had the potential to be as significant as the discovery of atomic energy.[^2]
+A [[Defense Intelligence Agency|DIA]] briefing on "Soviet Activities in Psychoenergetics," given to the Air Force in July 1987, opened its timeline with [[Vladimir Bekhterev|V. M. Bekhterev]] and "L. L. Vasil'yev (1919-)," under the headings "hypnosis," "automatic responses" and "long distance (1700 km)," and dated his "open publications" and "new lab, Leningrad Univ." to 1959-1965, with [[Genady Sergeyev|G. A. Sergeyev]] working in "Vasil'yev's lab" from 1965 to 1970.[^3]
 
+### Footnotes
 
 [^1]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.
 [^2]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
+[^3]: Henry E. Shinol, Deputy Assistant Chief of Staff, Studies and Analyses, Headquarters USAF, to the Defense Intelligence Agency, "Soviet Parapsychology Research Briefing," June 12, 1987, and cover note of July 14, 1987, with paper briefing slides "Soviet Activities in Psychoenergetics," CIA-RDP96-00789R002600320001-8 to -004-5. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.