Memorial Stone in honor of Chernobyl heroes
A memorial and ceremonial march «Those Who Shielded Us», dedicated to the memory of the liquidators of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident, took place in Yuzhnoye Medvedkovo on April 26, 2016, on the 30th anniversary of the disaster. A column with portrait banners of the Chernobyl heroes walked along Zapovednaya Street to Pevcheskoye Pole. The event was initiated by organizations uniting accident liquidators with the support of the North-Eastern District administration. “We all asked ourselves one question,” says Vyacheslav Tulskikh, a member of the coordination council of the Chernobyl organization, “‘If not us, then who?’ We had to stop the radiation at any cost, sparing neither life nor health. And this march is not in honor of those veteran liquidators who walked in the column today, but in memory of those who did not live to see this day, who shielded people.” The march was attended by liquidators, activists of the Chernobyl movement, cadets of military schools, youth organizations, and clergy. The column was led by district administration representatives and Moscow City Duma Chairman Alexey Shaposhnikov. At the head of the column, the icon “Chernobyl Salvation” was carried. The march ended in Pevcheskoye Pole Park, where a memorial stone dedicated to the feat of the liquidators was unveiled and consecrated, followed by a requiem festival. Recall that on April 26, 1986, a man-made catastrophe occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the largest in the history of peaceful nuclear energy. During a planned experiment on a turbogenerator unit, a detonation occurred, leading to the destruction of the reactor core. The incident was accompanied by a colossal release of radioactive elements into the atmosphere. The consequences of the accident affected vast territories. The lands of modern Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine suffered the most severe radioactive contamination, and their populations bore the brunt of the disaster. However, the impact of the accident was not limited to the borders of the Soviet Union. Radioactive fallout containing dangerous isotopes of iodine and cesium spread with air masses over a significant part of the European continent, being recorded in Italy, Germany, and Austria as well. A restricted zone with a radius of 30 kilometers was urgently organized around the station to minimize the spread of radiation. Enormous resources were mobilized to overcome the consequences of the explosion. More than 600,000 people took part in the liquidation of the large-scale accident. Reliable statistics on the total number of victims and those affected by radiation exposure, both in the first days and in the long term, are absent. Nevertheless, it is known that tens of thousands of emergency workers received significant radiation doses. In the first days and weeks after the explosion, dozens of people died from acute radiation sickness. The selflessness of the participants in those events was recognized at the state level. Over 80,000 liquidators were awarded orders and medals for their courage. Six of them were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for exceptional heroism shown during work in the extreme danger zone.
Address: Moscow, Pevchesky Pole Park
