What about Chernobyl (not) spoke Soviet power
27. Apr 2025 at 11:03
I
Russia still uses the same tactics as the Soviet regime.
The author works at the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory
Information about the largest technological disaster in the history of humanity caused by the explosion in the fourth block Chernobyl The nuclear power plant, April 26, 1986, described the party-state management and security services of the Soviet Union as secret.
Prohibition of spreading information about the event within the country
In one of the first reports of the KGB Office for the Kiev region, sent to the USSR KGB 26 April, it was stated: “In order to prevent the leakage of information and the spread of false and panic frames, supervision of outgoing correspondence and limited access to international communication lines were established.”
Although the evacuation of people from Pripjati and the surrounding villages began in the afternoon, April 27, the Soviet government and the “most right” media of the world were silent about what happened.
Only on 28 April at 21.00 in Vremja TV, the presenter announced that there was an accident in the Chernobyl power plant in which one of the reactors was damaged, the injured is provided and a government commission was created. This laconic statement was supposed to give the impression that this is only a minor disorder and the situation is under control.
On April 29, 1986, the Chief of the KGB of Ukrainian SSR issued a « on the intensification of the work of urban and district authorities in enterprises and institutions to stop the spread of provocative and panic causing rumors and the use of vigorous measures to their originators ».
The district departments were to report daily at 11.00 and 17.00 to the KGB emergency service of the number of « gossip » revealed, the number of warning interviews and individual admonitions.
On April 30, the newspaper truth broke the silence and published a short news, where they basically repeated what was heard in the news of Vremja, with the addition that evacuation took place and the level of radiation was thoroughly monitored.
Chairman of the KGB Ukrainian SSR Stepan Mucha in his report to the first secretary of the Communist Party Central Committee Ukraine Volodymyr Ščerbický informed about the efforts to ensure control before 1 May over « the current situation in Kiev, Chernihiv and Žytomyrian region in connection with extraordinary events of 26 April in the Chernobyl nuclear power plant ».
First May
The day of work was one of the most important ideological holidays in the USSR, so the Soviet power could not afford to ignore or cancel it. Although the wind drove a radioactive cloud towards Kiev, the leadership in the Kremlin issued an order to organize a mass feast parade in the city.
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