“An analysis of undercover and operational materials on the opening and suppression of the intelligence and subversive activities of the enemy’s intelligence services and foreign anti-Soviet centers indicates a continuing intelligence interest in the consequences of the Chernobyl accident. To collect information of interest, the enemy attracts various categories of foreigners, primarily diplomats, scientists, specialists in the field of nuclear energy and radiology, representatives of the media and foreign public organizations.
The most stable aspirations are fixed to the experience accumulated in the USSR:
- on liquidation of the consequences of the Chernobyl accident and new technical solutions developed on its basis;
- to improve the reliability of power units with RBMK and VVER reactors,
- according to operational capabilities and characteristics of these types of reactors,
- on the organization of a nuclear power plant protection system,
- on the problems of processing and disposal of radioactive waste.
Enemy special services show increased interest in the radiation situation at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, in its environment and in the republic as a whole.
So, diplomats from the USA, France, England, Norway, Italy, the Netherlands, Japan, who took targeted trips to the cities of the USSR, sought to collect information on the measures taken by means of investigation in official conversations, along with other issues:
- to eliminate the consequences of the accident,
- about the radiation situation in the places of stay,
- the number of people affected by radiation,
- about the reaction of the population to the event.
Nosy foreigners
Members of foreign delegations visiting the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which included established intelligence agents and foreigners suspected of involvement in the enemy’s special services, noted a desire for a systematic collection of data of interest to the special services. The detailed questionnaires have been identified, taking into account which the roles in obtaining the necessary information were distributed among the members of the delegations.
In particular, the French diplomat Denis Flory, as well as foreigners from the USA and France, members of the international scientific conference “Medical aspects of the Chernobyl accident”, who traveled to the 30 km zone, attempted to obtain information on new decisions made to improve the reliability of power units, prospects for the further construction of nuclear power plants with uranium-graphite reactors.
When visiting the All-Union Center for Radiation Medicine of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR in Kiev, the participants in this conference noted an increased interest in organizing the recording, treatment, monitoring of the health status of people being treated in Kiev clinics, and the presence of military personnel among them.
A spy trap: Western Journalists, Cameramen, and Harvard Professor
To collect and recheck data, the adversary actively uses foreign media correspondents accredited in the USSR and representatives of various public organizations of the West. Operational and official sources noted their preparedness for discussions on special issues. As a rule, the groups of foreign correspondents who visited the Chernobyl nuclear power station and the restricted area included specialists in nuclear energy, radiobiology and dosimetry.
Foreigners made attempts to take samples of soil, water, and vegetation directly in the 30-km zone along with collecting classified information by finding out and raising leading questions. In particular, the director of the Japanese television company “NHK” Yamaugi Toshihiko intended to get soil samples in the station area, supposedly for scientific purposes and for a monetary reward.
Materials were obtained that testify to the enemy’s attempts to double-check the information provided by the Soviet government to the international organizations of the IAEA. So, the Harvard University professor Wilson Richard, who visited the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, persistently tried to get a map of the distribution of radioactivity fields in the NPP zone, under the pretext of making changes to the data submitted by the USSR to the IAEA.
A professor at the same university, Richard Wilson, who was included in the group of employees of the American television company TBS, was interested in the area where Kurchatov Street was located in Pripyat, as the most affected by the accident. It is characteristic that there is a link to this street with specific levels of radiation in the materials submitted by the Soviet Union to the IAEA in October 1987.
There is data on the exchange between special services, as well as foreign scientists, of information obtained earlier when visiting the security zone. In a report produced by our agents suspected of involvement in the British special services, “D. K.” about the trip to the Chernobyl nuclear power station, there were references to the fact that before visiting the USSR, he familiarized himself with the materials of the French delegation who visited the 30-kilometer zone, as well as the data transmitted by the Soviet side to the IAEA received by the enemy via spy satellites.
Former USSR citizens are enemy agents
Former Soviet citizens suspected of involvement in special services, who collected information through their connections in our country, were identified among the foreign tourists who visited the republic.
In particular, a German citizen, who had previously emigrated from the USSR, while in Kiev on private affairs in 1986, attempted to export information about the radiation situation in the accident zone received from a former employee of the Institute for Nuclear Research. The specified information in the form of encrypted records, as well as a bottle of water samples were taken from her during customs inspection.
Attempts to obtain data on the consequences of the Chernobyl accident by sending, under the pretext of comparison, clarifying data, preparing reports, preparing various questionnaires to the official institutions of Kiev and the region, as well as to individual scientists, were revealed. A number of specialists in the field of radiology, biology, and medicine were sent invitations to take part in the work of foreign symposia, conferences and make presentations.
Under foreign conditions, the enemy tried to get the information he needed by interviewing Soviet citizens traveling through various channels. The participants of foreign Associations of Ukrainian Nationalists who seek to use the events in Chernobyl to attract the attention of the world community to the “problem of Ukraine” and the “liberation” activities of OUN organizations were particularly active in this case”.
