Didn't read that, but what you talk is possible. There was even civilian Institute of Experimental Medicine, where different psyhic fenomena scientifically studied, from ability to make complex calculations in mind to thelepathy and remote vision. There was numerous publications in soviet literature about all that stuff, but all that was abandoned quckly after USSR fall. Military also do same serious research but results still classified. Paranormal definitely was not dismissed, but also it was not accounted or praised as some magic or spiritual things, since ideology stand on hardcore materialistic views. Paranormal was scientifically studied.

Unfortunately, tracks of that research are mostly in old soviet scientific and popular science journals and literature, f.e. you could easily find archives of scanned "Наука и Жизнь" (Science and Life) journal, but it will be hard to translate it since it is just scanned images in djvu format and not a text suitable for automatic translation. And it will be a hell work to check every page of hundreds of thick journals to find articles on paranormal research and translate them. IDK, may be there have to be some enthusiastic person who could deal with it, but for me it is too much.

Here is something to start, if somebody want to try - http://publ.lib.ru/ARCHIVES/N/''Nauka_i_jizn'''/ if you took, say, 1960-1989 years, in every second issue you will find something on topic, or at least connected.