"World News" report from 1986: Soviet leader Gorbachev makes first comments on Chernobyl nuclear disaster 18 days after the accident. #Chernobyl #NuclearDisaster #Radiation #ABCNews
I am from Hungary, and I was born on May 4, 1986. Even as a soviet satellite state, my country was aware of the nuclear disaster, so my mother was ordered not to take walks in the gardens of the hospital, but rather stay inside, in the protection of the thick walls.
@spooky katt France is the opposite. According to French media in 1986, we were not affected by the nuclear cloud, because it was blocked at the border, lol. We are destroyed by Macron, this liberal nuclear meltdown.
@Didi Gatalito The fact that they weren't elected wasn't a problem. Just look at China; their economy has been growing for over 20 years at rate unimaginable for the West and the "Communist" Party rulings are stable. The reason why the Soviet Union collapsed, was mainly because of its economic principles were extremely flawed. There were many problems with mismanagement etc. but the main problem was, that in the centrally planned economy the prices were established by central planners- this effectively meant that prices ceased to carry information on market demand, which meant they couldn't properly asses what goods should be produced in what quantity, where deliverd and sold and is the goods quality satisfactory- this was the reason for constant shortages and low quality of some (by no means all) goods that were produced in the USSR. After the psychopath Mao Zedong died in China, the Chinese communist party leaders realized that the communist economy is unsustainable so they introduced the XIXth century style capitalism, which reorganized and repaired the economy and then boosted it immensly- as a result they're already surpassig the countries of mid- and eastern Europe in terms of living standard, and catching up with the US in terms of economy strenght, although in the early 80ies the Chinese economy was in much worse condition that that of eg. Poland, Hungary, or Soviet Republics.
@@piotrmalewski8178 the problem was that, as any socialist system, soviet economy and industry was heavily subsidized by oil bucks from export and as soon as oil prices dropped they quickly run out of money - so no money no power, no power - no communism. That is why communist party of china still keeps 30% of economy in its hands as state property.
@Didi Gatalito democracy is not possible in socialist system even theoretically, socialism is totalitarian by definition (government owns everything even your home is state property) so the main reason is still socialism.
Ironically enough, this would be true for any Soviet Leader apart from Gorbachev, who was the one who ended the arms race in an attempt to help the people. In fact, he even introduced an idea called Glasnost (openness in English) which gave back their people free speech and entailed that they wouldn't be lied to any more.
Well Hiroshima wasn't an accident. We ended the war. Ironically right before the soviets were going to stage a full scale land assault on mainland China. We probably saved millions of Russian lives. Socialism fails everywhere its tried eventually.
Not really. He proposed meeting there to end nukes; the place where nukes where used during a war in which we were allied with the USSR, even under Stalin. Should we have dropped the bomb on Hiroshima? Of course not! And being there would give them the impetus for peace.
The only real way to communicate across the iron curtain was the leaders of the US and SU to meet or make statements like this that the other side could see
I'll have to watch again, I dont remember Dyatlov saying that., I only remember Bryukhanov saying "not horrifying." My mistake. In my defense, it's impossible to hear a goddamned thing on the TV when my idiot sister in law is visiting.
Gorbachev can be credited with helping dissolve the Soviet Union and for that, I respect him. Sadly it was pretty apparent he was lying through his teeth about the death toll and amount of injured. Also the fact that the Soviets tried to hide the accident made the results far more catastrophic.
@@honkhonk8009 they are one in the same. You cant have communism without corruption. It creates a hive mind type of thinking where you can justify any lie or death for the good of the state. Anyone the pushes for it is a lunatic.
@@ryanwarner5006 replace the word 'state' with 'individual' in your comment and you have the exact same problems typified by the west. An exact mirror; the tyranny of the individual over the tyranny of the state. It's what's lead to many of our financial crises, wars, and disasters. One mans egotistical folly. Unchecked power in any ideological power structure is always a disaster. Capitalism is inherently individualistic therefore it promotes individualism and therefore as an ideology has an in built blind spot to it. The same goes for communism. It has an inherent blind spot to the collective because it's ideology requires it's priority to sustain itself. A balanced system would draw parts from each with robust legislation and checks and balances to prevent both collective or private entities from running amok.
I was 12 when it happened. Western European stations where detecting huge levels of radioactivity on the days and weeks after the explosion, and they knew it had to be a nuclear station explosion because of the isotopes detected. The Russians kept it hush hush for as long as they could
God i miss Peter Jennings. A fantastic newsreader. To me in Australia he was the voice of America. I had no idea until recently that he was actually Canadian.
Damn, this guy’s older then I can imagine. I only been around for 20 years and find it unbearable sometimes. Can’t imagine living 90 years in this miserable world
Comrades, the events of Chernobyl, while not great, are certainly not terrible. I'm told the radiation emitted was equivalent to a chest x-ray. So, Soviet citizens, if you're overdue for a check up, please make your way to Pripyat right away. Don't fret if you feel ill afterwards. You know our motto, Comrades: Why worry about something that isn't going to happen?
On April 27, 1988, one day after the second anniversary of the Chernobyl NPP accident and one day before the chief investigator Valery Legasov was due to announce his results of the investigation into the causes of the disaster, he committed suicide by hanging himself (some sources say in his apartment[2][15] or the stairwell of his apartment;[16] others in his office[17]). A personal pistol remained in a drawer, but the professor chose to hang himself. The loop was tied professionally and with the help of a special rope used by climbers.
Yes "he" hanged "himself." I'm sure it wasn't a botched attempt by the KGB to silence a potential embarrassment to the Kremlin that knew way, WAY too much, ruined by the fact that Legasov suspected it was about to happen and had his memoirs taped. Clumsy move by Gorbachev. The KGB agents did not do a very good job of making it look convincing if you ask me. If he really want to kill himself he would use the pistol, but if you're trying to erase him, you can't use the pistol because the firing residue will create questions so suicide by hanging is preferable. I'm not saying it definitely happened, but if the KGB was trying to make Legasov go away without showing their hand openly, that's one of the ways they might do it, and it's more plausible than a professor hanging himself out of the blue one day before he was going to the press.
When it happened trucks began covering the streets with foam in neighboring countries, hoping itll bring the radiation down to the ground. Visiting the area to help was voluntary unless you was in the army. Those who voluntary visited were paid a lot of course
although they quickly found out what happened with the reactor. Don‘t say anything bad about Gorbachov, because if it was 1950‘s or 60‘s it will be different story. There will be not public announcement at all and no evacuation , nothing. Yes, there will be 30 km exclusion zone, but all the contaminated citizens will be left inside until they die. Just read about Kyshtym disaster in 1957. Which btw was revealed when the „perestroika“ started.
Ahmet Taşkın When the radiation meters available will only ever register a maximum of 3.6 roentgens, it’s not great. It’s despicable. The ‘good meter’ was locked in a cabinet and the key wasn’t available. The army used a meter that maxed out at 15,000 roentgens. Guess what? It showed the radiation level was 15,000 roentgens. Later it was established that in some areas the more robust meters were recording 50,000 roentgens.
I've read he was livid when he found out how bad it actually was. As Soviet leader, he should've had access to all the information about it, but the hard-liners who were still in charge of some Soviet agencies tried to get him to believe what they believed about it. He didn't buy it.
Did Gorbachev ever apologize for hiding the St Petersburg accident (ten years earlier) that also released radiation, and was a reactor for weapons grade plutonium and tritium
What what what... I have never heard about it before. Only about an accidents on Urals,now I don't remember if it was a but nuclear powerplant or about chemical industry,but it was dangerous thought. What are you talking about Paul?
He wasn’t the General Secretary at that time… it was prolly Brezhnev or someone… Gorbachev became the General Secretary of the Soviet Union in 1985… and he was the only “good” leader of the Soviet Union
I'm sorry but Mikhail Gorbachev as far as the Soviet Union goes was probably the only leader other than for shamina that I had any respect for whatsoever he deserves a lot more credit than he's got and the key thing to remember here is that he recognized the destruction of radiation you know that was his big thing and also keep in mind of how dangerously radioactive the situation was and people literally had no choice but to go into radiation that in some areas could kill you in just seconds seconds not minutes not hours not days seconds and I always thought that it was a little unpractical to criticize him because it took him 14 days to address the world about the situation I mean could any other country have done any better I mean when you're dealing with a disaster that magnitude I have to be the devil's advocate and say that a disaster that magnitude the last thing a leader is thinking about is addressing the world about the problem there first thought is going to be what to do about the people and what to do about the accident I highly doubt that any more leader on this planet would have made it their first priority to send out a news broadcast about disaster let's get real
Wow, really? thank you for the information, I was born in the Soviet Union and currently live in Ukraine. If you think he was such a great guy, why don't you go to any of the ex-Soviet countries and ask people how they feel about Chornobyl and so-called wonderful reforms :))
@@KillerofWestoids Empires often look the greatest from the outside. I doubt many Ukrainians miss the state which genocided and exploited them for like 70 years. Sometimes it’s better to just be part of a small country rather than a “great” empire who despises your people.
He was a good man. Tried to reform the Soviet Union to make it operate properly. But he was pushed back by other party officials. I’m sure he wanted nothing more than to say “we’ve messed up and there are a significant number of deaths and life changing injuries” but he’d likely have been arrested. He was also extremely understanding of Legasov and allowed him more opportunities to speak than any other Soviet leader would have done.
Well, obviously thousands of people died as a consequence of Chernobyl. But on May 14 it may have actually been not as many as you'd think. Even Acute Radiation Syndrome doesn't necessarily kill you within 18 days. Some of the firefighters might have still lived then.
It amazing how elegantly the news jumped over the fact, that Gorbachev mentioned 'Three Mile Island' in his speech, and how the USA withheld informations about the catastrophe for MONTHS!
The Soviets wouldn't have mentioned anything about Chernobyl if the West wasn't affected by the nuclear fallout. They admitted that the accident took place when there was no way to deny it.
Say what you will about the slowness and awkwardness of the response and acknowledgement, but you cannot deny, now from so many years in the future, that every word Gorbachev said this day was true. He accurate about the number of already dead and seriously sick, accurate about the danger of the area, accurate about the method by which the disaster occurred, grateful to the people of his country and others that had helped, and believed it was another sign that it was time to begin serious talks with the US to mitigate nuclear proliferation.
At the time, my country Romania(next to Ukraine) was asking questions about what happened and what should they do and the Russians were totally ignoring them. It took our secret services spying the communications between foreign countries to finally learn what happened and what measures the others took. But by that time, there was a radioactive rain over our country and so many were contaminated. There was a huge surge of cancers in the 1990's, my family was not spared either. Very brutal cancers that would kill you within weeks. Say what you will about USSR? The government was criminally negligent!! With its own citizens and with the faith of millions of others! WHY? Because USSR has a reputation to save? There's nothing to praise about Gorbachev, it was a total fucking disaster.
@@8catweazle Actually Gorbachev was the one who had an immense amount of rage towards the soviet mentality. He was the one who pushed that mentality towards transparency. He was the one who made the FIRST steps towards the end of the Cold War. Without him nothing would have changed. He is actually a hero, but found himself in a deeply, deeply, deeply sick country.
Don't know if you have seen the recent TV series on Chernobyl by the way if not, highly recommended I had no idea of the full story very eye opening for sure.
theres a new containment building being built with help of money donations from mainly westernized countrys... not sure if Russia is playing a role in any of this
