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COMMANDER OF BLACK SEA FLEET SUES HEAD OF RUSSIAN NAVY. The commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, Admiral Vladimir Komoedov, has filed a lawsuit in a Novorossiisk military court against the commander of the Russian Navy, Admiral Vladimir Kuroedov, "Izvestiya" reported on 28 June. Komoedov is challenging the "inappropriate actions of the Navy commander" in dismissing Komoedov from service last month for "health reasons." Komoedov is asking the court to nullify Kuroedov's order, arguing that although he does have minor health problems, he was dismissed for clashing with his superior. Komoedov has reportedly criticized Kuroedov on several occasions after the latter made several arrangements with his Ukrainian counterparts concerning the Black Sea Fleet while ignoring the opinion of its commander. Meanwhile, Vladimir Pchelkin, the head of the Novorossiisk garrison court, said that although litigation between two admirals is very unusual, Komoedov's lawsuit complies with acting legislation and the court will hear the case. VY
Western nuclear scientists are at last coming to accept what people in Belarus have claimed for years -- that the radioactive contamination from the Chornobyl nuclear disaster on 26 April 1986 was deliberately "shot down" over Belarus in order to prevent it from blowing back on to Moscow. However, even 16 years after the event, they are unwilling to put their names to that theory.
Maps of the fallout that appeared in the Soviet Belarusian press three years later, at the beginning of February 1989, revealed two patches of high radioactivity isolated from the main focus of contamination, where there had been heavy showers of rain just as the fallout was passing over.
The population of these areas has always maintained that the rain was artificial -- "seeded" on orders from the Kremlin. Soviet authorities dismissed these reports as "radiophobia" fomented by "anti-socialist elements" -- and said they did not have the technology to "bring down clouds" in that way (although for years, the Soviet media had claimed exactly the opposite, with circumstantial accounts of crops saved from storm damage by prophylactic "cloud seeding"). Western scientists tacitly accepted the Soviet denials -- partly in the belief that no government would act so callously and also because they considered the Chernobyl-polluted area a unique "laboratory" for studying the migration of radioactive contamination in the soil and did not want to provoke the authorities into denying them visas. However, the bulk of circumstantial evidence is now causing them to think again.
To date, none have been willing to "go public," arguing that -- in the political climate of today's Belarus -- to give their names would not only endanger their visas (and their continuing research) but also put their informants at risk. However, the following emerged in informal discussions on the sidelines of a recent scientific conference:
One researcher, whose official brief is to monitor whether the soil of these areas can be safely brought back into cultivation, has begun collecting the reminiscences of local inhabitants as to what they remember of the days immediately after the accident. He made no attempt to "lead" his "witnesses." Amid the many purely personal incidents (weddings, May Day celebrations, etc), there were repeated reports of unusual activity of aircraft and/or rockets being fired in the vicinity. One man, the chief administrative officer of his locality, stated categorically that he had seen an aircraft with "stuff coming out of the back." Many people remembered that the rain showers that followed were "unusually heavy" and that -- unlike "normal" rainstorms in early May, were not accompanied by thunder. Challenged by colleagues that such reports were "subjective," the researcher pointed out, "These people are farmers and know about rain!" When further asked why such claims had never been made before, he pointed out that, to date "no one [i.e., no Western scientist] had bothered to ask the locals!"
A senior scientist who had been working mainly in Russia stated that what he termed an unimpeachable Moscow source who, at the time of the accident "had been in a position to know," admitted that the clouds were, indeed, brought down. People like his informant, this scientist said, "are prepared to talk in cars -- particularly Western cars!" (i.e., where there is little likelihood of "bugging").
In fact, shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union, one scientific paper was published in the West that reported -- on the basis of local claims -- that the soil had been tested for traces of silver iodide, the chemical most widely used for seeding. No such traces were found, the report said. But this is at best negative evidence. The soil samples in question were taken more than six years after the accident -- and the small amounts of silver left by seeding could well have leached out of the soil during that time. Alternatively, the Soviets might have used a different chemical for seeding.
One scientist who has worked on the Chernobyl contamination since 1992 is Dr. Alan Flowers of Kingston University (U.K.). Many of his colleagues in Belarus, he says, seem to accept as established fact that the clouds were seeded -- but again, they have never publicly admitted this. When asked -- 16 years after the event and with the Soviet officials who would have taken the decision to "seed" the cloud presumably out of office, retired, or dead -- he replied that "for a full understanding of the distribution and effects of the Chernobyl fallout, we need as much evidence as possible. What caused the rain is still an uncertainty in our knowledge about the intensity and nature of the contamination."
Vera Rich is a London-based freelance researcher. She was Soviet correspondent for the scientific journal "Nature" at the time of the Chornobyl disaster.
PAKISTAN LOOKING TO BUY UKRAINIAN ARMS. A delegation from Pakistan headed by Zafir Jaffer, the head of the weapons purchasing department of the Pakistani military, arrived in Ukraine on 26 June. According to AP, the delegation is looking to modernize its tanks and aircraft with Ukrainian technology and know-how. Pakistan is one of the largest buyers of Ukrainian arms. From 1996-2000, Pakistan spent some $800 million on Ukrainian arms and military equipment -- the bulk of it on 300 T-80YD tanks. According to Interfax, Pakistan is seeking to refurbish its T-69, T-72, and unspecified U.S.-built tanks, and to modernize its fleet of aircraft, including U.S. F-16s and Russian CY-27s. RK
NATO, UKRAINE TO REVIEW RELATIONSHIP. The upcoming meeting of the Ukraine-NATO Commission to be held in Kyiv on 9 July will focus on the current state of Ukraine-NATO relations, according to NATO Secretary-General Lord George Robertson, Interfax-Ukraine reported on 28 June. Speaking to Ukrainian journalists in Brussels, Robertson announced that he plans to meet with President Leonid Kuchma, Prime Minister Anatoliy Kinakh, and other members of the cabinet of Ministers during his weeklong stay in the Ukrainian capital. When asked about the basing of the Russian Black Sea Fleet on Ukrainian territory and its future if Ukraine were to join the alliance, Robertson said that this is a "strictly academic question," as Ukraine has not formally requested permission to join NATO. However, there is no set rule on such a matter. Robertson went on to say that "Ukraine's recent declaration and the letter from the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council announcing its decision of 23 May to seek Ukrainian integration into NATO" raises the prospects of a "distant possibility of membership, but today the matter of submitting a request to join is not on the table." RK
UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT MEETS WITH MONGOLIAN LEADER. President Kuchma and his Mongolian counterpart Natsagiin Bagabandi signed agreements in Kyiv on 1 July aimed at improving bilateral economic ties, AP reported. Kuchma said Ukraine is interested in Mongolian exports of copper and rare metals, while Mongolia is interested in help from Kyiv in modernizing its military hardware and mining industry. Trade turnover between the two countries was just $7.11 million in 2001. Officials from the two countries signed several agreements, including one on avoiding double taxation and others on cooperation in science and education. Natsagiin is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Kinakh, parliament speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn, and other officials before leaving on 3 July. PB
Western nuclear scientists are at last coming to accept what people in Belarus have claimed for years -- that the radioactive contamination from the Chornobyl nuclear disaster on 26 April 1986 was deliberately "shot down" over Belarus in order to prevent it from blowing back on to Moscow. However, even 16 years after the event, they are unwilling to put their names to that theory.
Maps of the fallout that appeared in the Soviet Belarusian press three years later, at the beginning of February 1989, revealed two patches of high radioactivity isolated from the main focus of contamination, where there had been heavy showers of rain just as the fallout was passing over.
The population of these areas has always maintained that the rain was artificial -- "seeded" on orders from the Kremlin. Soviet authorities dismissed these reports as "radiophobia" fomented by "anti-socialist elements" -- and said they did not have the technology to "bring down clouds" in that way (although for years, the Soviet media had claimed exactly the opposite, with circumstantial accounts of crops saved from storm damage by prophylactic "cloud seeding"). Western scientists tacitly accepted the Soviet denials -- partly in the belief that no government would act so callously and also because they considered the Chernobyl-polluted area a unique "laboratory" for studying the migration of radioactive contamination in the soil and did not want to provoke the authorities into denying them visas. However, the bulk of circumstantial evidence is now causing them to think again.
To date, none have been willing to "go public," arguing that -- in the political climate of today's Belarus -- to give their names would not only endanger their visas (and their continuing research) but also put their informants at risk. However, the following emerged in informal discussions on the sidelines of a recent scientific conference:
One researcher, whose official brief is to monitor whether the soil of these areas can be safely brought back into cultivation, has begun collecting the reminiscences of local inhabitants as to what they remember of the days immediately after the accident. He made no attempt to "lead" his "witnesses." Amid the many purely personal incidents (weddings, May Day celebrations, etc), there were repeated reports of unusual activity of aircraft and/or rockets being fired in the vicinity. One man, the chief administrative officer of his locality, stated categorically that he had seen an aircraft with "stuff coming out of the back." Many people remembered that the rain showers that followed were "unusually heavy" and that -- unlike "normal" rainstorms in early May, were not accompanied by thunder. Challenged by colleagues that such reports were "subjective," the researcher pointed out, "These people are farmers and know about rain!" When further asked why such claims had never been made before, he pointed out that, to date "no one [i.e., no Western scientist] had bothered to ask the locals!"
A senior scientist who had been working mainly in Russia stated that what he termed an unimpeachable Moscow source who, at the time of the accident "had been in a position to know," admitted that the clouds were, indeed, brought down. People like his informant, this scientist said, "are prepared to talk in cars -- particularly Western cars!" (i.e., where there is little likelihood of "bugging").
In fact, shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union, one scientific paper was published in the West that reported -- on the basis of local claims -- that the soil had been tested for traces of silver iodide, the chemical most widely used for seeding. No such traces were found, the report said. But this is at best negative evidence. The soil samples in question were taken more than six years after the accident -- and the small amounts of silver left by seeding could well have leached out of the soil during that time. Alternatively, the Soviets might have used a different chemical for seeding.
One scientist who has worked on the Chernobyl contamination since 1992 is Dr. Alan Flowers of Kingston University (U.K.). Many of his colleagues in Belarus, he says, seem to accept as established fact that the clouds were seeded -- but again, they have never publicly admitted this. When asked -- 16 years after the event and with the Soviet officials who would have taken the decision to "seed" the cloud presumably out of office, retired, or dead -- he replied that "for a full understanding of the distribution and effects of the Chernobyl fallout, we need as much evidence as possible. What caused the rain is still an uncertainty in our knowledge about the intensity and nature of the contamination."
Vera Rich is a London-based freelance researcher. She was Soviet correspondent for the scientific journal "Nature" at the time of the Chornobyl disaster.