Seventh Directorate of the MIA of the USSR to the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Ukrainian SSR, Colonel-General Gladush I.D., 'Report on the Results of the Study of Public Opinion in connection with the Accident at the Chernobyl AEhS'

[handwritten: 30 April]        Secret

Copy Nº 1

to the UkSSR Minister of Internal Affairs

General-Colonel

of the Internal Service

I. D. Gladush

[handwritten and underlined: "to Cde. V. V. Du____"}

Report

on the results of the study of public opinion in connection with the accident at the Chernobyl' AEhS

Secret measures which have been conducted have established that the population of the City of Ivankov has been informed of the incident which has occurred, and that various sorts of fabrications, feelings of panic, signs of violations of law and order, or gatherings of city residents and migrants have not been recorded. All institutions and trading centers are functioning normally and a limited choice of food products is being noted. A considerable gathering of militia officials was observed at the approach to and in the city of Ivankov itself, which is causing increased interest among the population.

A similar situation was observed in the urbanized village of Polessky. Arriving citizens expressed satisfaction with the resettlement conditions, and the decontamination and medical observation center was actively working.

It has been established that during entry and exit from the city of Pripyat' vehicle transportation with state license plates [nomera] are not being stopped and documents are not being checked. The people travelling in this vehicle transportation are not being subjected to decontamination when leaving the zone of contamination.

According to information of the seventh departments of the corresponding Directorates of Internal Affairs in the cities of Rovno and Cherkassy the local population has been informed of the accident at the Chernobyl' AEhS within the bounds of the information presented in radio and television broadcasts.

[handwritten in the lower right-

hand corner of the first page:

"Incoming 356ye

20 May 86"]

In the city of Zhitomir there are discussions about the deaths of 85 [Translator's note: the number 85 was circled] people, 800 victims, a complete evacuation of the population of the cities of Pripyat' and Chernobyl', and the spread of a radioactive cloud to the cities of Malin and Ovruch. There are rumors in the city of Chernigov about the deaths of from 250 to 600 people and considerable damage to the housing of the city of Pripyat'.

In the course of carrying out measures in the city of Kiev it has been observed that individual citizens are making fabrications concerning the number of victims of the explosion of the Chernobyl' AEhS and the real danger of contamination of the air and water.

For example, Nikolay Petrovich Chubok, the driver of taxi Nº 38-81 KIB, told those around [him] that the accident occurred through the fault of AEhS workers when conducting tests of new methods of cooling the reactor. During the explosion 560 people died, the premises were contaminated to a radius of 30 km, the population was evacuated, and panic and looting had begun among the remaining population, they were robbing stores, primarily the liquor and water departments, and the troops brought in cannot bring order. Pregnant women in hospitals are being given induced births. I noted that the "Voice of America" has broadcast about such accidents which also have allegedly occurred in other zones of the country. It reported that among the victims is a Deputy Minister of Automotive Transport. In addition, it said that the Chernobyl' AEhS allegedly was to have been built in the CSSR, but the population there declared a strike about this and they built the station in Chernobyl'. It declared that the water in the Dnepr River was completely contaminated.

V. A. Sichevsky, DOB 1953, a worker of the Chernobyl' AEhS and a resident of Pripyat', told a group of people around him the particular [podrobnoe] structure of the AEhS and the reasons for the accident, the fault for which was completely laid on the chief engineer.

A discussion was recorded on public transportation that a group of Japanese specialists had immediately left the city of Kiev in connection with the accident.

Work continues.

the Seventh Directorate of the UkSSR MVD

[handwritten: illegible signature

30 April 1986]