On the eve of another anniversary of the man-made disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power station, our correspondent met with retired lieutenant-colonel Vadim Nikolayevich Kuzmin, who, together with the personnel of the military unit, carried out the decontamination of the contaminated area in the 30-kilometer zone.

Vadim Nikolayevich, time inexorably pushes us from the event, which changed the lives of millions of people of the former USSR. Many already do not remember it. Therefore, I would like to hear your story about the time when thousands of people sacrificed their health and life in order to protect the lives of their children and grandchildren.

In February 1990, I was sent to the village of Rudakova, Chojniki district, Homiel region, to continue my service as chief of the political section of the unit, whose personnel consisted of "guerrillas", called from the reserve for six months. They urged those who were older than thirty and had at least two children. The officers were sent to the Chernobyl zone for three months, but I had to serve more than a year.

Soldiers were engaged in planned works on disinfection of buildings, burial of villages, equipment, products, the top layer of soil contaminated with radiation.

There were also unplanned works, to which the "partisans", of course, did not want to go absolutely, had to persuade, call for conscience and sense of duty. In cases of fire in the Chernobyl zone, it was necessary to send from the unit the number of personnel and fire trucks determined by command. Together with the soldiers always had to go and me.

The level of radiation in the zone was higher than normal. The form was worn until it recruited a certain dose of radiation, after which it was thrown into the cemetery, as did the equipment they worked on. All the cemeteries were in a 30-kilometer zone, near Chernobyl. For technology – its own burial ground, for food – its own, for contaminated outfits – its own. After the car dialed in the zone a certain level of radiation, at the checkpoint it was turned back and the car was buried. For a year I had to change three UAZ.

It is known that all the horror of radiation is that it is not visible. Tell us, how did the servicemen treat this enemy? Is it possible to get used to this?

That's the catch: it seems to exist, and it seems to be not. I recall the standard behavior of an officer who arrived for the first time in the zone: he studies literature, instruments, regularly measures radiation with a dosimeter, looks at how others behave ... And then comes the addictive, shovel pofigism. Gauze bandage is not worn, radiation is not measured, and ash from solid fuel burning stoves, which after combustion is radioactive, is not buried, but is thrown just onto the street. In my free time I caught fish, went hunting. And if at first they treated the game with apprehension, then they ate with time, without thinking about what radiation dose she had collected. Everyone had a dosimeter, but in due course someone gave it, someone drank, someone simply forgot about it. Therefore, what dose of radiation we actually received did not reflect, and in fact, according to the law, we and the unit commander had a formal responsibility for exceeding the daily norm of radiation received by the soldiers.

In Chojniki there was a chair – an indicator of the level of radiation accumulated by the human body. But even if you had the maximum allowable dose of radiation per day, you still had to go to a meeting in Chernobyl or with a regular group of soldiers for extraordinary work after work in the zone. Now this sounds wild, but all the meetings were held in Chernobyl.

A deduced radiation from the body in the steam room, broom. They parried almost every day. Some took radiation out with vodka, but vodka does not help.

The commander of our unit, Evgeni Pashchenko, with whom we stayed together for a year, died two or three years after our return from cancer of the blood and bones. Eternal memory to him.

Tell me, what do you think about the fact that the government is intensively introducing agricultural land into a crop rotation and encouraging the settlement of contaminated areas?

Take, for example, the city of Brahin. It was impossible to live in it. Then there was a total eviction, and now they are populated there. I do not understand how this can be. Radiation has not vanished anywhere, because the half-life of plutonium is not a single decade. And the fact that Lukashenka travels to the Chernobyl-affected areas without Kolya speaks volumes. In Brahin – a huge cheese factory: then it was closed, but now it works. Large fields were removed from the crop rotation, overgrown with grass. Here's a picture, on the roadside it was forbidden even to stop, not to mention the field, and now it's getting a harvest ... It turns out that either we were fooled or fooled now. Indicative is the fact that there are no personal dosimeters for residents of the Homiel region, nor is there a map showing the actual level of pollution. But there the youth lives. And what will happen to her? Or the government believes that the main thing is for them to survive, and there, how will it be?

I remember when the Japanese came to us, the difference in the readings of their dosimeters and ours was significant. Based on the testimony of our instruments, it was possible to visit the area, and on their dosimeters the dose went off scale. In some places they refused to go categorically and only sympathized with me.

Explain how it happened that, despite the fact that you have served more than the deadline set in the Chernobyl zone, you are not officially a liquidator.

After all, the most interesting is what? For the service in the Chernobyl zone, I was awarded the Order "For Service to the Motherland in the Armed Forces" and was presented with the award of the Central Committee of the Komsomol "For Military Valor". But according to the law "On Social Protection of Citizens Affected by the Chernobyl Nuclear Accident ..." I am not a liquidator, because 1990 is not included in the period giving the right to benefits. In this situation, there were many people.

We were the last before the collapse of the USSR. And the worst thing is that we have not completed all the work required for the current security of the population.

Vadim Nikolaevich, Do you remember, please, any moment from the period that causes you a negative attitude or rejection.

There were unpleasant moments. It would be possible to cite specific examples of the skimming of people with big stars, but then I can be accused of unfoundedness. Therefore, I will not name the surname. We had in part a specialty store: there are dubbins, cosmetics, and imported shoes ... That is why the visits of the authorities to the unit were not uncommon. They flew in a helicopter, they were getting ready for their arrival: they poured dust on the paths – God forbid, an important particle of radiation dust would be inhaled. Disadvantages, of course, was not a little, for which for pro forma and dispersal was arranged. After the shavings were removed, large epaulettes were sent to the military department for deficit. They dialed what they needed, and left. Money, they say, then we'll send. So until now and send. We had to get out of the squad leader. And there were dozens of such cases. And now I'm looking at these servants now, and one of them is now in big ranks, and, you know, they did not consume their eyes.

But the attitude with the population was excellent. We helped them, they to us – it brings the grief closer.

S. Horki