Doubts raised about safety of Ignalina NPP for Belarusians, Europeans

MINSK, 26 April (BelTA) – The West continues to exploit the topic of the Chernobyl tragedy, Deputy Head of the Belarus President Administration Vladimir Pertsov told the media. He took part in a flower ceremony at the Chernobyl Victims and Hiroshima Peace Stone memorial signs in the Park of Peoples’ Friendship in Minsk on 26 April, International Chernobyl Disaster Remembrance Day, BelTA has learned.

According to Vladimir Pertsov, Belarus remembers and honors the first responders to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident. “Some people are trying to exploit this topic and build it into their political, inhumane, ironic, anti-state strategies. We watched this like some kind of wild dances of deranged people. That’s the only way how we and the vast majority of humankind treat these theatricals,” noted Vladimir Pertsov. “We would still like to have some kind of support from civilized states in eliminating the aftermath of the Chernobyl accident, but we have been handling it largely on our own. Although, let me emphasize, this tragedy came to us from abroad,” he remarked.

Vladimir Pertsov went on saying: Belarus still gets a lot of flak from Western states, EU states, primarily the Republic of Lithuania, regarding the Belarusian nuclear power plant.

“We would like to remind you that our nuclear power plant was built to the most advanced safety standards. At the same time, the Ignalina nuclear power plant, which is located on the territory of Lithuania, is an exact replica of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant,” he emphasized. “Taking into account Lithuania’s dependence on economic subsidies, we are not 100% sure that all the necessary safety measures were undertaken during the decommissioning of this nuclear power plant. In other words, we are not sure that nuclear energy elements that remained there are safe, first of all, for our people living in the border area, and in general for all people living in Europe. As you know, the radioactive cloud from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant spread far beyond the borders of Ukraine and the Soviet Union,” he noted.