Expert on how Chernobyl disaster affected Belarus

April 26th marks the anniversary of the Chernobyl accident, which remains one of the largest man-made disasters in the world and is global in scope. The consequences of this accident also affected Belarus. In his talk with Alfa Radio, a deputy of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus, Director General of the National Library Vadim Gigin, explained how the Chernobyl disaster affected the development of Belarus.

According to Vadim Gigin, the Chernobyl disaster affected not only the environmental and economic situation in Belarus, but also the political one, “It has changed not only the situation in the country, but also our approach to solving problems and overcoming the consequences.”

“We helped people relocate, conducted scientific studies, created a school of radiological research and a nature reserve. We have institutions working [in this area]. Belarusians have done all this. We started dealing with contaminated land and reassessing [the findings]. Because earlier, in the 80s, when assessing everything that happened, we acted blindly. That time has passed, and now we can sensibly assess and weigh how to farm on those [contaminated] lands, what can and cannot be done [there],” the expert noted.

Vadim Gigin also stated that the Chernobyl disaster had an impact on the self-awareness of the Belarusian people. According to him, the so-called ‘Chernobyl syndrome’ has arisen, but our country is gradually overcoming it.

The expert also reminded about the role of the President of Belarus in eliminating the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster, “Remember how Aleksandr Lukashenko travelled to the areas where people were relocated and to those affected by the disaster, talked to people, and helped them settle down, making their lives easier. The President travelled to the Gomel Region, the Mogilev Region, and the Brest Region, to the so-called ‘Chernobyl spots’. That was the President's attitude towards the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster. Now look at what his opponents were doing. They turned everything into ‘Chernobylski shlyakh’ [Chernobyl path – a rally organised annually by the so called Belarusian opposition], during which they were walking along Minsk’s smooth and beautiful streets, delivering speeches that had nothing to do with real consequences, thus making political capital out of it. This is the fundamental difference between our and their attitudes towards Chernobyl.”