“Chernobyl – 30 Years of Kremlin’s Lies and Lukashenka’s Reign”

The “Chernobyl Way” action will take place in Minsk to commemorate the 30-years anniversary of the accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.

The biggest man-imposed catastrophe in the history of humanity happened on April 26, 1986.

Although the NPP was located in Ukraine, over 70% of all radionuclides, released as a result of the disaster, fell on the territory of Belarus.

Over 2 million Belarusian inhabitants suffered from the consequences of the Chernobyl catastrophe, including half a million children. The country’s territory has become an ecological disaster zone for many centuries to come.

According to the data provided by the National Committee of Statistics of the Republic of Belarus, 2.371 populated localities remained in the zone of radioactive pollution by the time of January 1, 2016. The quantity of population living in this polluted zone made 1 million 141,8 thousand people (12% of the country’s total population).

The Belarusian authorities intend to revive the damaged lands and make them fit for habitation and growing food products — Minister for Foreign Affairs Uladzimir Makei stated that literally yesterday, making a speech at an international conference in Minsk, organized by the Belarusian government and the United Nations’ Development Program.

Representatives of the Belarusian opposition and ecologists stand against economic development and habitation of polluted territories. They also demand that the Belarusian authorities should cease construction of the Belarusian NPP, reveal the truth about the real consequences of the Chernobyl catastrophe for Belarus, and guarantee the consistent and available for the citizens radiometric monitoring.

All these demands will be sounded during the traditional street action “Chernobyl Way” which will take place in Minsk tonight. The participants of the action will gather near the “October” cinema at 6 p.m. on April 26.

The key mottos of the action are “Chernobyl Not Over – Catastrophe Goes On”, “Say No To Astravets NPP” and “Chernobyl – 30 Years of Kremlin’s Lies and Aliaksandr Lukashenka’s Reign”.

The Council of the Belarusian People’s Republic came out with a statement dedicated to the 30-years anniversary of the Chernobyl NPP disaster. The statement says that “Belarus suffered from Chernobyl more than all the other countries, and the consequences of this catastrophe will remain in Belarus for the centuries to come. One third of the Belarusian territory got polluted with radiation, huge areas became inapplicable for the people to live. The indices of the illnesses caused by the Chernobyl disaster consequences – cancer in the first place – considerably grew among Belarusians. The BPR Council stresses out that “Belarus received no compensation either from the central Soviet authorities, or from their legal heir – the Russian Federation, in connection with the Chernobyl catastrophe”.