Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant CIA Files - Paperless Archives

.,.. 'F ,_
·'
ectlt:
The regime brought many of these problems on itself by initially reacting
with its traditional secrecy. Immediately after the accident, an information
blackout was imposed until international pressure forced a grudging
admission followed by a propaganda counterattack. Gorbachev himself
remained silent until 14 May, almost three weeks after the accident,
. probably to minimize his personal responsibility and to wait for his experts
to gain control of the situation. 'r}
Once Gorbachev got involved, however, he exploited the initial public
relations setback to push his own reform agenda. By demonstrating that
suppressing information about domestic problems can backfire, the accid'ent
gave added impetus to his drive for openness in the Soviet media. Several
articles in Pravda, for example, pointed out that a lack of complete information
had encouraged harmful rumors, and supporters of Gorbachev's
policy criticized the domestic media's early silence.
Gorbachev also ~ed the accident to eliminate some Brezhnev holdovers.
He retired three elderly members of the Central Committee who were
rumored to share some blame for the disaster. In addition, several ministrylevel
officials in the nuclear industry were fired, six Chemobyl' plant J
managers received jail sentences, and 27 party officials were expelled frm
the party either for contributing to the accident or Jor being inattentive to
the evacuees' needs.
By laying the blame on local authorities, attacking the West for exploiting
the disaster, and pressing forward with domestic reform, Gorb~chev has so
far largely avoided personal accountability. ( .--..'.....
;l Gorbachev favored prompt publiCation of information
bui met resistance in the Politburo. However, this story conceivably
was put out by his supporters to exonerate him "'1
The costs to regime credibility were especially serious in the Ukraine,
Belorussia, and the Baltic. Dissatisfaction with the regime's handling of the
Chernobyl' accident exacerbated longstanding popular frustrations in these
regions:
• The nuclear radioactive contamination of Ukrainian and Belorussian
territory and the dislocation of Ukrainian and Belorussian people provoked
dissatisfaction with the Soviet policy of placing nuclear plants near
populated Centers and strengthened the environmentalist lobby in the
Ukraine.
• Chernobyl' sparked demonstrations in the Baltic, where ecology-sensitive
issues had already provoked anti-Russian demonstrations and Moscow's
callup of reservists to clean up Chernobyl' was perceived as ethnic
discrimination
" et
vi