Paul
Goble
Staunton, August 13 – When the
Chernobyl nuclear accident took place in 1986, the behavior of the Soviet powers
that be was to remain silent, understate the nature of the problem or lie about
it and the reaction of the population of the USSR was to fear the worst because
they knew they weren’t being told the truth.
Mikhail Gorbachev who initially behaved
just as all other Soviet leaders did was able to use this accident to promote
his program of glasnost and thus prevent Chernobyl from undermining his
position, although in the end, the glasnost he opened as a result of that
tragedy cost him his job and his country.
Now, Russia has suffered a deadly
nuclear accident at the Severodvinsk naval facility, and both Russian officials
and the Russian population have responded almost to the letter the same way
their Soviet predecessors did. Officials
have remained silent, understated the seriousness of the problem or outright
lied about it.
And the Russian people who know they
aren’t being told the truth by their own leaders – they are getting it only
from foreign sources -- are once again fearing the worst, with some talking about
Armageddon and others rushing to take iodine in the mistaken belief that it
will provide complete protection against exposure to radiation.
But there is little evidence that
Putin wants to use this tragedy as the occasion for changing either the way in
which he and his officials respond to anything the authorities don’t want
talked about or the ability of domestic Russian media to cover what is going on
openly and honestly, including challenging the duplicities of Russian
officials.
Instead, there is something more ominous,
the suggestion by close observers of the scene that Putin himself bears direct
responsibility for the tragedy, something that will make it even more difficult
for the Kremlin leader to change direction but that could lead to an explosion of
popular anger against him and his neo-Soviet dishonesty.
In a commentary for Deutsche
Welle, Russian political analyst Ivan Preobrazhensky puts it bluntly: “The
main person responsible for what has happened in Arkhangelsk Oblast,” he says, “is
Russian President Vladimir Putin” (dw.com/ru/комментарий-авария-под-архангельском-медийный-чернобыль-российской-власти/a-49999144).
“More than once,” the commentator
continues, Putin “has given to understand that the development of new arms in
the country is taking place under his personal control. And since 2018, he has
demonstrated his personal involvement in this sector more than once.” Given Soviet-Russian
psychology, those working in this area will do anything to please him.
They will work extra hard, ensure
that any successes are reported upward, and do whatever is necessary to make
sure that any problems are covered up lest they reflect badly on “the leader of
the nation.” That is what has happened
in this case as so often in the past, Preobrazhensky says.
But there is a deeper link between
this disaster and Vladimir Putin. He and no one else is responsible to exacerbating
tensions with the West and demanding new super weapons to defeat it in a
nuclear war the Kremlin leader has more than once implied that he is prepared
to fight and win.
That too will add to what the Russian
commentator says is already “an explosion of disbelief.” Preobrazhensky says that he “doesn’t know
what will be the consequences of the failure of this test for Russia’s defense capabilities.
No one, I think, knows that or what will be the impact of this on the health of
people in the zone of the accident” or farther away.
“On the other hand,” he argues, “one
can say precisely that what has taken place is a real media ‘Chernobyl.’ This
is the diagnosis of the Russian authorities who have been no more willing to
speak the truth to their fellow citizens than were the rulers of the USSR
before its disintegration.”
Just like the Soviet citizens then, Russian
citizens now “no longer believe their leaders; and this will without fail have
consequences,” perhaps even more serious and direct for Putin than the 1986
accident had on Gorbachev.
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