In Russia, the Messenger Still Goes to Prison : *Environment: A naval expert is praised and punished for reporting on erosion in aging nuclear subs.

The nuclear history of the Soviet Union always has been wrapped up in secrecy and lies, even when lies led to serious consequences. Eleven years ago, the Chernobyl catastrophe put millions of people worldwide under a cloud of danger. The lies of government officials caused even more danger. If not for this, many people could have been saved from incurable sickness and death.

The first official announcement in the Soviet press appeared on April 30, 1986, the fifth day after the accident. It said that “the nuclear power plant has been stabilized. . . . The level of radiation does not exceed radioactive safety standards.” The KGB guarded national secrets with vigilance. All that was taking place was kept secret even from people who were allowed to know secrets. In those days, I was at the Naval Academy’s Department of Nuclear Power Plants. As specialists in the area of nuclear energy, we could not understand what was happening.

Eleven years passed and little has changed. Even those who had authorization in this area are not allowed to glimpse the profound problems connected with 40 years of operating nuclear powered vessels in the Soviet Union.

Since 1994, Russia has begun to increasingly put environmental information and details about harmful technologies into secrecy. At the head of this process is the Federal Security Police (formerly the KGB).

The Russian Constitution states, “Everyone has the right to a favorable environment, the right to truthful information about its condition and to compensation for damages inflicted to their health or property by environment abuses.” Article 73 reads, “Not subject to secrecy is information about extraordinary events and catastrophes threatening the safety and health of citizens.”

But the FSB has a different opinion: Ecology is an internal affair of Russia. This sounds familiar. One can still recall the declaration by the leaders of the Soviet government that human rights were an internal affair of the Soviet Union.

In 1996, I co-wrote a report for the Bellona Foundation in Norway titled, “The Russian Northern Fleet: Sources of Radioactive Contamination.” Using information from previously published sources, I documented radioactive contamination caused by eroding nuclear submarines in northwestern Russia. With 52 retired submarines still containing nuclear fuel, along with 67 operating nuclear submarines, this area has the highest concentration of nuclear reactors in the world.

As a result of the report, I was arrested. After spending 10 months in prison, I was released, but am not allowed to leave the city of St. Petersburg. I now await trial on charges of treason. My report is the only publication officially banned in the Russian Federation.

During my interrogation I was repeatedly asked the same question, “Why did you write the chapter on nuclear submarine accidents and how does it relate to ecology?” Even after Chernobyl and hundreds of radioactive accidents, the FSB found experts who would determine that nuclear accidents and environmental problems are not related.

On April 14, I was awarded the Goldman Environment Prize, sometimes known as the Nobel Prize for the environment. Little did I realize how apt this analogy is. Just as when Andrei Sakharov and Alexander Solzhenitsyn received their Nobel prizes, not one Russian official commented. The Communist press, however, expressed its outrage over my getting a reward from the West for “treachery.” Victor Tereshkin, who has been called the best environmental journalist in Russia, tried to write about the Goldman ceremony in San Francisco. He was fired from the newspaper Vecherny Petersburg. This is in great contrast to coverage in other parts of the world; for example, I was named “Person of the Week” by Peter Jennings on ABC News.

Apparently, it has been claimed that the chapter I wrote for the report uncovered Russian national secrets. On April 23, following secret orders from the defense minister, military experts were instructed to examine its contents. Thus began the next phase of the investigation. I do not know when or how it will end.

I am not afraid of the results of this investigation if it is just. Unfortunately, in Russia even the president cannot ensure this. I already have spent 10 months in prison for calling the world’s attention to an environmental disaster waiting to happen. It is now time for the Russian government to cease its efforts to shoot the messenger and instead to address the message so the world does not have to experience another Chernobyl.