The Crime of Chernobyl- The Nuclear Gulag

by Wladimir Tchertkoff

  The disaster at Chernobyl had destabilised the most fundamental certainties and added a profound existential crisis to the more general material and moral collapse, that accompanied the disintegration of the Soviet system. The following testimonies show the disarray of both the rural and urban population struggling with the scourge of radiation. They were left to themselves, while the local leaders fled and the government authorities made their pact with the enemy. The testimonies also demonstrate how people resisted in spite of the injustice and humiliation.

  1. THE PEASANT COMMUNITIES

  For the population, under attack from invisible contamination, the danger was not only invisible but insidious. Fallout from Chernobyl had dispersed in “leopard spots”, dependent on wind, rainfall and topographical contrasts, and was further complicated by the lies and contradictions emanating from official sources. In the same region of Krasnopolie, where the radioactive cloud, blowing in a north easterly direction was artificially seeded with chemicals fired from rockets in a helicopter in order to protect Moscow, the main town is relatively clean, whereas the surrounding villages are as badly contaminated as the town of Pripyat, 200 km away.

  It was only in 2001, when the map50 showing contamination was published by Com Chernobyl (Committee of the Belarus government on the problems caused by the disaster at Chernobyl) that we would discover that dozens of villages, just like the villages in which we interviewed people that day, were subsequently evacuated, after a delay of five, ten or even fifteen years. Hundreds of villages, contaminated by 5 to 40 curies per square kilometre, are still inhabited, twenty years after the disaster, in a huge area, 170 km long and 50 km wide, on both sides of the river Sozh, that runs parallel to the Russian border. Fifteen large areas (the smallest measuring 8 square kilometres and the largest, 300 square kilometres), distributed along the border in the area of Bryansk, are contaminated at levels of more than 40 Ci/km2. The reality of this extremely dangerous situation is concealed by the UN agencies, whose latest reassuring statement, dated 5th September 2005, only deals with the 30 km exclusion zone around Chernobyl itself. Galina Bandazhevskaya, a paediatric cardiologist, who worked for nine years in this region, found that 80% of children living in areas where the contamination measured 5–15 Ci/km2 suffered from heart problems.

  50 See map on page 359.

  When we got the camera out of the car on 17th November 1990, in the main square at Krasnopolie, twenty or so women and men gathered around us, timid and curious. They had no more idea than we did about the radiation levels. We realised very quickly how these peasants, whose knowledge of nature’s cycles and laws is timeless, are confused and disoriented. Yury Shcherbak had described their bewilderment. “These are poor people, humiliated by fear. People who don’t know what is going on—who have always been lied to. They are helpless. And then, many of them do not even know what neutrons are, or what leukocytes are. They lack the most basic information. You can’t blame them for that. They’re peasant farmers who used to live off the land. Now they sense a danger surrounding them on all sides. A danger that can’t be seen, can’t be heard. You can’t see it, you can’t touch it. They can’t cope”. When people’s lives are threatened by a hidden menace, God and anger are their first recourse, before they submit.

  —What’s the situation here regarding radiation?

  —Only God knows.

  —Does anyone here understand the situation?

  —If I was a doctor maybe I’d understand, but…What can we do? We know nothing.

  —Do you feel in danger?

  —Of course! But what can we do?

  —Nothing.

  —Exactly.

  —Is your food clean? Do you trust it?

  —Ah my dear, we just eat what we find,

  —Have you always lived here in Krasnopolie?

  —No, I come from a village where no-one lives any more, at Novaya Ielnia. Near Zavodok, Rovnishche…They were evacuated. A few people stayed but they’ve already got one foot in the grave.

  —Did you understand the danger from the radionuclides?

  —Because they said that it was more or less alright to live here, we stayed. Then they came back: “You can’t live here! You’ve got to leave!”

  —When did you realise that you had to leave?

  —They started to evacuate people last year. Some left sooner, others later. Difficult to find housing. We lived there for three years after the disaster.

  —The military had set about decontaminating the area, hadn’t they? We don’t know exactly what sort of work they did but I suppose that was why they weren’t in a hurry to evacuate people.

  —Do you understand anything now about the radiation?

  —How would we understand anything about it?

  —You’d have to be some kind of great mathematician.

  —Whether you understand or not, you’ve got to eat.

  —Everyone should have a dosimeter.

  —I used to live in Starayia Buda, one of the villages that has been abandoned. You can’t live there. They destroyed the village, now it’s been invaded by cats. We left in August. I liked it there. I get headaches here.

  —You’re just nostalgic. You’re not used to it.

  —Don’t be silly.

  An angry peasant.—They say you can live at Krasnopolie. Yes, you can! But you have no idea what it’s going to do to you ... One person says one thing, another says something else… No-one says anything concrete. Nothing concrete. What you can and can’t eat. I’ve got a vegetable garden, carrots, onions and I eat all of it. But I don’t know if it’s dangerous. When I feel like eating, I eat. That’s it.

  —Do you test the food products from time to time?

  —I don’t test anything. It’s all in my cellar.

  —But there’s a laboratory at Krasnopolie!

  —No-one tests anything. I keep pigs, for example. What should I test? I slaughter a pig, I cook it and I eat it.

  —You could take the meat to the laboratory to test the levels of radioactivity.

  -- What’s the point?

  —That way, you can see if it’s contaminated or not. Measure the level of radioactivity.

  —Measure ... in any case, most of the food we eat comes from our vegetable gardens. Test what? We’ve got to eat something. I grow everything in my garden, cucumbers, tomatoes…And that’s what we eat.

  —Even if you take your onions, garlic, potatoes to the laboratory, and they tell you they’re alright, we don’t know if they’re spinning us a line or telling us the truth. We just have to believe them. What else can we do?

  A young woman, holding back tears—I have a three year old son. But no-one’s examined him. I don’t know if he’s healthy or not. We were told we were going to be evacuated soon from our village, Bereziaki. But at the moment, those who could not afford to leave under their own steam are still living there.

  —But you are provided with clean food, at least?

  A woman.—They bring us milk ... We go and get milk and meat. Yes, they provide that.

  The angry peasant.—But the milk they deliver, it’s from here! It comes from the same contaminated villages. We produce it ourselves. They mix it with who knows what at Mogilev. Then they deliver it here, mixed and radioactive. It’s the same with the crème fraîche. That’s what we’re eating!

  —Farming is still going on in this region?

  The angry peasant.—Farming? Of course! It carries on just the same. We raise beef, pork, in the contaminated zone. And we eat all that. I’m a mechanic, for agricultural machinery. We‘re working as we did before, the tractor drivers, all of us. They’re feeding us with contaminated food. They’re taking the mickey out of us! They themselves have left. The council leaders, the deputies, they’ve all left, leaving us as hostages. The mayors, Maximov, Pshekhotny, the doctors, they’ve all gone. We’re here lik
e guinea pigs.

  —Like rats.

  —They’re taking the mickey out of us, that’s all. They swindled us with their 15 roubles “for funeral expenses” as they say.

  —Yes, you’re right.

  —All the local politicians scarpered: the council leaders, the deputies, the presidents. They released all this radiation then they made a bolt for it. Leaving us to deal with it on our own.

  A woman.—They took all the money too. Took everything. They filled their pocket and left. They were replaced and the next lot filled their pockets in turn and left. That’s politicians for you!

  A worried peasant—Have you come because you’re sorry for us?

  A woman.—You’ve come to show you care and then you’ll be off.

  The worried peasant—You’ll leave and we’re going to stay.

  A woman.—That’s for sure.

  The worried peasant—And we’ll die one after the other like rats. Why? Our villages have got 12 Ci, 40 Ci, 45 Ci, 38 Ci. And these curies are a terrible thing. After two or three years….leukaemia and then that’s it.

  —Do you know how many curies there are at Krasnopolie?

  —I know how many there are at Paluzh, you can go and measure it. It’s 42 curies. That’s where I’m from, I’m still living there. There are lots of us at Paluzh. We haven’t got anywhere else to go. Where can we go?

  An elderly person.—And where would I go if I left Krasnopolie? If it carries on like this I won’t last longer than six months. If I go to bed, I can’t get up again. I pass out. I don’t want their 15 roubles compensation. I want to live. Today I fell out of bed. I can’t walk. Tell me, sweetheart, what is there to eat? What can I eat?

  —You’re not being evacuated?

  The worried peasant—Where to, if there are no houses, there’s nothing? Go where? We’re going to die here! The food that’s sent here from other places, we don’t see any of it. It’s all sold on the black market. Our shopkeepers sell it on, behind our backs. The food arrives, it should be distributed to people who are ill, and they, they sell it. We’re just animals in a laboratory.

  —Is that what you think?

  —We know it, that’s all, we’re not inventing it. It’s obvious. They should have explained certain things a long time ago, like what we’re being shown now on the television, or that I saw in Mogilev myself. Every person needs to be examined, every worker, every child to make sure they’re “clean”. But no-one explained anything to us, no-one came to examine us. As for us, the old people, we’re of no interest to anyone. Former soldiers, war wounded, we’re of no interest to anyone. No houses for us.

  A voice.—At least give the young people a life!

  Distressed mother.—They’re not interested in the young people either. My daughter’s at school and my son is three. We live at Bereziaki. There isn’t even a hospital there. We have to go to town to buy medicines.

  The elegant appearance of Lyudmila Kozlova, head teacher at the school, contrasts with the peasants’ clothing. Last summer she accompanied a group of children to Switzerland for a period of decontamination. She is visibly moved as she listens to us. We ask her what she thinks of this discussion.

  L. Kozlova.—Everyone’s complaining. Everyone gets headaches. Dizzy spells, nose bleeds. Going anywhere, getting out of the contaminated zone, even if it is only for a month, would do them a lot of good. But where can these elderly people go? There are places for the children to go. They have been to stay in Switzerland. Quite recently, I accompanied children on a holiday to Moldavia for a month and a half’s holiday. But where can the old people go? Retired people…..How can they leave their gardens, their houses? Who’s interested in them? No-one’s interested in them. We feel our lives are condemned.

  2. TWO LOCAL OFFICIALS

  The following morning we met up with Semyon Kozlov, Lyudmila’s husband, and Alexei Lazuko, a Communist Party official, in the main square in Krasnopolie, and we set off for Paluzh, a very contaminated village. At the edge of the village, looking out over a vast expanse of fields covered in high grass, stretching away as far as the eye could see to the horizon, Lazuko described the situation.

  Q.—How many curies per square kilometre are there here?

  A. Lazuko.—On average, 58 curies per square kilometre. This is an obligatory evacuation zone. But there are still people living here. Above 40 Ci, nothing is being cultivated any more. It is land that has been planted with grass, there is no agricultural activity. Below 40 Ci, this year and the next year, the land will be flooded and then sown with grass. There won’t be any agriculture there either. We are continuing to use soils for agriculture in areas of the zone that have between 1 to 15 Ci.

  —You are Secretary of the Communist Party in Krasnopolie?

  —Yes, of the local Committee.

  —Yesterday we talked to people in the main square. They told us that the local leaders in Krasnopolie left in the first few years. Is that true?

  —Many did leave. Yes, there is some truth in that.

  —They compared them to the captain who abandons his ship in the middle of a storm.

  —The local people think the officials should be the last to leave, like the captain. But there is also, how can I put it, the human point of view, according to which when a person does not want to take risks with their health, they have the right to leave. So…

  —Of course, if it was possible for everyone…

  —Everyone should be guaranteed that right, and they should have stayed until everyone could benefit from that right. That’s also my point of view. But the people who left justified themselves in all sorts of ways, looked for all sorts of reasons. They claimed to be afraid for other people’s children, but it was them that left. I don’t approve of them. In the first two years, the directive was to organise… of course it was a mistake to try to manage the zone instead of evacuating it. But at the beginning the scientists claimed that we could live here permanently even on land contaminated as much as 70 to 80 Ci per square kilometre.

  —Ilyin’s famous theory?

  —We know now that it was Ilyin’s theory. But at the time, for us it was the official government theory. In other words, this scientific theory was put into practice by government organisations. It was the official theory, you could say, government policy. Today, we know it was a mistake. Now everyone’s gone to the other extreme. Abandon the land completely, evacuate the whole population in areas of 1 Ci and above. Obviously that’s a mistake too. We have to save the people, but we must save the land too. To make sure there aren’t other mini Chernobyls. If we abandon this grassland and everything around here, it could catch fire and the radioactive dust could be carried by the wind as far as Mogilev or even to Minsk. That’s why we have to create the optimal conditions for the protection against the danger of radiation for the people in centres like Krasnopolie, and in the zones where contamination is low, from 1 to 5 curies. We have to adapt our agriculture to it. Develop specialised technology, within scientific production associations. We need help in this area. Near here, in the Cherikov region, there is a scientific production co-operative, Nadejda (Hope). People there are doing research to try and save this area. They are developing special techniques for growing different plants, studying different ways to treat and decontaminate production and to eliminate the radionuclides from the soil. In other words, they are learning how to neutralise them.

  —But the scientific world does not know whether it is possible to neutralise it or not! Medical research is still looking into the effects of low dose radiation on the body. All this is still to be discovered. The people who live here are right when they say they are guinea pigs, don’t you think? Are you, yourself, confident about the food that you put on your table?

  —I’m absolutely sure that the food we are provided with is clean, or at any rate within the contamination limits for food that have been adopted here.
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  —Yes, but what about locally grown produce?

  —You’d need to ask the health services here about local produce. It might seem strange, but they say that the potatoes grown here are below these limits.

  Q.—Semion Efimovich, you work mainly with children. What exactly is your role here in Krasnopolie?

  S. Kozlov.—My role is to ensure that the schooling process runs smoothly and to do my utmost to limit the danger of contamination of children. In other words, we are concerned not only with education but with their recovery.

  These children have been deprived of their childhood by the Chernobyl tragedy. They spend nearly all their time indoors. We limit the amount of time they spend outdoors. We don’t allow them to go beyond the school perimeter, to reduce the probability of radionuclides entering the body. The school is open at all times. The children are at school for nearly twelve hours at a stretch. We’ve organised a refectory that supplies four free meals a day. In summer, during the holidays, and throughout the year, we take children away from Belarus, to clean areas. At the moment, some of our children are in Moldavia, others are in Anapa… We receive a considerable amount of aid from other countries in the West. I have to say that people there have reacted to Chernobyl as if it were their own tragedy. This year, a lot of our children have gone to recuperate in Germany. Switzerland, Austria, Norway. I would like to express our gratitude, on behalf of the children, the parents, all of us. The restrictions that we have placed on our children have almost certainly had a psychological effect of one sort or another, but we haven’t noticed any effects on their health. There will have been some effects and there will be effects in the future but we can’t link them directly to the effects of low dose radiation.