That hysteria wasn't caused by the ignorance of Russia's population. Everyone knew about the disaster for a long time. I know this because I lived there until recently.

Russia's a big place. Rest assured, as an American, I could find plenty of Americans who have no idea what happened at Chernobyl or why it would make a less-than-five-star campground.

> Everyone knew about the disaster for a long time.

I think you're falling into the mistake everyone is like you, and has access to the info you had access to.

In the meantime, there is plenty of documented evidence that Russian soldiers who were ordered to move into Ukraine were totally oblivious to the area they were occupying. There are even comical reports from the start of the war on how Ukraine thwarted the advance of some Russian columns towards Kyiv by switching road signs.

You’re right. I just want to highlight that any ignorance of Chernobyl is more likely a general failure of Russia’s education than anything ideologically driven.

> So, no - they didn't know. That's 100% plausible.

No, it's not plausible. Stop making shit up.

In Czechoslovakia right after the WW2 the Colorado Potato Beetle has shown up and started decimating potatoes. Communist government renamed it on American Beetle and started claiming that USAF are dropping it from planes to punish us for choosing socialism.

So rural Russians knowing nothing about Chernobyl is completely in realm of possibilities.

I've never heard of that in my life - got a link to back that up?

Here directly from horses mouth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GjQ4piS2d4

It is propaganda from 1950s (2 years after the communist putsch) so it is pretty loaded against West in general.

* Milada Horáková - Executed by communist government in fake process. 27th of June 1950

* Oldřich Pecl - Executed by communist government in fake process. 27th of June 1950

* American Colorado Beetle = Mandelinka Bramborová (its common neutral name)

* American Beetle = Americký Brouk (propagandistic name)

Translation:

Those clouds are not bringing blessing. Those clouds are coming from the west. Together with clouds American imperialists sent American Colorado beetle on our republic.

Father with son has found the American Colorado beetle. This is it! The American Beetle, latest tool of American barbarism. We found it where it does not belong, on the wood instead of potatoes, we found it on the junkyard, American Beetle is climbing wall.

The beetle is spread via wind and planes from our west and south borders. It is spread by secret western agents bringing it in boxes. Those who sent it to us expect that this beetle will find its way to our potatoes. They expect that it will lay thousands of eggs and red-orange larvae will come up.

What is the aim of American imperialists? Their aim is to use the most dangerous potato pest to destroy our advanced potato industry! They want to hamper our nutrition, our livestock farms and industry for whom the potatoes are important resource.

Those bottomless larvae are culture of nuclear warmongers. But our imperialists gentlemen were planning wrong. Or government did decisive measures. Decisive measures to deflect wicked attack of our enemy. But they could have already known that in the West. In our country we do more than we talk. We all and especially youth, pioneers, are getting into a fight. We will find every American Beetle, and destroy it. Every place of its occurrence will get disinfected. Every place of its finding will get properly marked. We will involve technology into fight against the vermin. We are putting all our strength into saving our work. This is our direct defense against attack of our enemies.

We won't let them pupate under the ground. We will find them and we will destroy them. That's our answer to enemy attackers. We got rid of (Milada) Horáková, we got rid (Oldřich) Pecl, we will get rid of American Colorado Beetle, the American Beetle. We will defend our harvest and our fields from American disease. We don't want foreign, but we won't give up ours.

You're both way off.

I asked four of the youngest people I know (ages 19-22) what Chernobyl was and only one knew. And only because of the TV show.

You have no idea how little the average youngster cares about stuff they didn't personally experience. Almost nobody is reading history articles on Wikipedia for fun. It's just Tik Tok, Insta, and Youtube.

For the majority of them, certain subjects will just be mentioned in passing 5 minutes in a history lesson, and it exits the student's brain within days, if not as soon as the bell rings.

Outside of Russia? Come on. Most young people know of Chernobyl because of the TV show. The tourism there spiked after HBO rolled it.

The former USSR is a totally different matter. It's a very well-known and painful, very close part of history. Not knowing about it is a shocking level of ignorance and miseducation, and yet - this is what we have.

20yo westerners are not watching HBO shows about old Russian scientists. If they're watching HBO at all, they're watching Euphoria. It takes a certain mindset and a modicum of appreciation for history to watch Chernobyl.

I don't think it's a stretch to think a 22yo Russian farmer signed up for the military is just as disinterested in history.

Do you know the name of the show, I’d like to watch it

It's also called Chernobyl: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14780354/

Gorbachev is quoted as saying that Chernobyl was the beginning of the end of the USSR.

Nobody likes to talk about that stuff. Ideologues most of all.

I’m always impressed that the RMBK was 3.5GW… just for the core that exploded. There are 3 other cores functioning.

France’s reactors (other technology) are 0.910-1.3 Gigawatts (x60 cores)[1]. Chernobyl must have been the powerhouse for half of the country.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_power_stations_in_Fr...

It wasn’t 3.5GW for the reactor but the plant as a whole. They had four reactors, 1x800MW and 3x1000MW.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_Nuclear_Power_Plan...