None of the POWs who returned in '73 reported being interrogated by Russians. Though several who were in Hanoi during the Spring of '66 were handed questionnaires asking for specific military and technical information on aircraft, and two of them (LCDR Bob Shumaker and CDR Jerry Denton) felt the questions had been written by a Russian-based on both having taken Russian at Annapolis. Were the Russians after specific items in regards to aircraft, aircraft systems (avionics, flight controls, etc.), and classified military information? Almost certainly: it would be dereliction of duty on the part of the GRU Station in Hanoi not to do so. But they likely did it indirectly. That is not to say that the Russians may very well have requested the NVN hand over prisoners the Russians felt were valuable, but the NVN may very well have refused. One thing that MAY led itself to this possibility is that Capt. Alexander Zuyev, who flew a MiG-29 to Turkey and got asylum in the U.S., said in his memoirs that he was told flat out by a SAF nuclear weapons officer when his unit was training to deliver the RN-40 tactical nuclear bomb that the arming, fuzing, and PAL action links were directly copied from the American-and that information came from several American prisoners who were nuclear-qualified pilots that were "loaned" to the Soviets by the North Vietnamese. Unfortunately, Zuyev died in a plane crash in Washington State back in 2001 and can't be interviewed about the matter. (I have the book, and if I can find it-it's packed away in storage with other paperbacks-I'll provide the page citation). Problem is, it's just one account.
One thing that can be dispensed with is the myth of the "Backseaters" that is, highly qualified aircrew who had specialist knowledge of Electronic Warfare systems, who were not returned. Most of the F-100F, F-105F/G or EB-66 crew who were shot down have been accounted for. Two F-105 crewmen shot down near the PRC border were seen to bail out, beeper contact made as their chutes deployed, but both have never been accounted for. Two more were shot down in Laos in 1970 and were seen by their wingmate to bail out, but they were shortly thereafter seen by crewmen in both a rescue HH-53 and their orbiting squadron mates to be captured. Not by Pathet Lao, but the crewmen on the helo ID'd the captors as North Vietnamese. These two have also never been accounted for. Five of those on the famous BAT 21 shootdown (also an EB-66) have never been accounted for. Pilots in the area reported hearing a second beeper, but no voice contact with anyone other than Lt. Col. Iceal Hambleton, the famous survivor. Another unsolved mystery.... But the aircraft was also seen to explode in the air, and no additional chutes or beepers were detected.
Some mysteries are likely to remain unsolved. This issue may very well be one of them.
