Servant of the People in Kyiv

After Petrov and his companions entered the office and briefly reviewed Pripyat's response plan and reaction speed, Petrov glanced at Haniyev with satisfaction and nodded. "Victor Vladimirevich, you've done a great job. Now organize the evacuation immediately. Except for those who must stay, everyone should evacuate together and await orders from the provincial government, the Ukrainian Party Committee, and even Moscow."

After everyone agreed and hurriedly dispersed, Director Petrov said to Haniyev and Nicholas in a serious tone, "The Secretary of the Kyiv State Committee, the Governor, and other leaders are on their way to Chernobyl. I also heard that the Central Committee of the Ukrainian Soviet has sent a young and promising minister to oversee disaster relief efforts. When you arrive in Chernobyl, you two will report back. Think carefully about what you will say."

Haniyev nodded, but Nicholas swallowed nervously and asked, "Director Piedrov, who is the minister who is coming?"

Piedrov frowned and thought, "Comrade Leonid Makarovich Kravchuk, the Minister of Propaganda of the Central Committee, is said to have taken on the concurrent post of First Secretary of the Kyiv Oblast when he came down."

Leonid Makarovich Kravchuk is 52 years old and is an outstanding leading cadre. Hanyev has also heard some voices saying that Sherbitsky had intended to make Kravchuk the second-in-command of Ukraine, but his qualifications and abilities are not as good as Vladimir Antonovich Ivashko, so most officials know that Sherbitsky will most likely choose Ivashko in the end.

Nicholas frowned when he heard that it was Kravchuk who was coming. It was obvious that there was no family relationship involved, and he was worried that this accident would affect his career.

However, unlike Nicholas, when Haniyev learned that the minister who was highly regarded by Ukraine's First Secretary Sherbitsky was Kravchuk, the expression on his face became a little strange.

Haniyev felt that perhaps he had changed, or perhaps the secretary had indeed been to Chernobyl, or even witnessed and participated in the Soviet Union's handling of the accident, and became disillusioned with this political system. In the end, he signed the "Belovezh Accords" with Yeltsin and Shushkevich, which marked the disintegration of the Soviet Union.

Haniyev didn't know whether Kravchuk was an official who had lost faith in socialism or a complete traitor to the Soviet Union, but he knew that he was definitely a big shot in Ukraine, and after Sherbitsky, he would become the head of Ukraine in the future.

Since Kravchuk was the one to oversee the disaster relief, Haniyev felt that he needed to contact him, and if possible, it would not be impossible to invest in advance.

When he becomes president, I will be able to join his team and work as a prime minister.

Haniyev was figuring out how he should operate, and using the influence of the nuclear power plant explosion to become a political celebrity in the Soviet Union, when Alyosha and others hurried in to report that among the 46,000 people in the city, except for more than 100 people who had to stay, the rest could all be evacuated by car.

Haniyev stood up with a smile, looked at Piedrov and Nicholas, and said, "Director, Secretary, shouldn't we also evacuate?"

Piedrov hadn't wanted to come at all, and even if he had, he'd have been eager to leave. Hearing this, he quickly stood up and walked out, saying, "Haniev and Nicholas, you've done a great job. I won't ask any more questions. Let's hurry and wrap this up. We can't leave any innocent people behind. We must get everyone back to Chernobyl safe and sound."

After Haniyev and the other man agreed, they followed him out. Then Haniyev confirmed everything and gave the order for everyone to move.

Both trains and the long convoy started to depart.

Pripyat was a completely deserted city moments later. Haniyev looked back from his car at the modern city, squinting his eyes as he thought to himself: Since the tragedy has happened and cannot be reversed, I can only do my best to function. Perhaps this city will be a symbol of my emerging talent, a symbol of my sudden rise...

Chapter 046: The Nuclear Age (5)

After the vehicles entered the city, Haniyev made overall arrangements through loudspeaker broadcasts, and all militiamen worked in company units to cooperate with officials from various municipal government departments to escort and manage the citizens.

In order to take all the citizens away in one trip, Haniyev even requisitioned several horse-drawn carriages near the city of Pripyat.

In the end, except for the 1200 people who stayed behind, all the remaining people out of the city's more than 4 people got on vehicles and left Pripyat for Chernobyl.

The huge Pripyat instantly turned into a ghost town. Looking at the empty Pripyat, Haniyev was filled with emotion. He felt that this ghost town might witness his rise or his failure, but no matter what the outcome, he had to have a clear conscience.

After a moment of emotion, Haniyev left with Secretary Nicholas, Gladkov, and the nuclear power plant director Brukhanov, and prepared to set up a command center in Chernobyl to remotely control the disaster relief work at the nuclear power plant.

On the way to evacuation, Haniyev knew that by the time the experts sent by Moscow arrived and began to seal off the nuclear power plant, the open-air power generation equipment would have turned Pripyat and even Chernobyl into a deadly place with seriously excessive radiation. Therefore, even if he took action in advance, it would be inevitable that Chernobyl would be contaminated and become a dangerous radiation area.

After all, Chernobyl is only 18 kilometers away from the nuclear power plant. In a day or two at most, it will be contaminated by the falling radioactive dust, and there may even be more serious nuclear radiation.

The remaining work can only be decided by Moscow. If Gorbachev cannot come up with opinions on the management and control of the nuclear power plant as soon as possible, the Chernobyl area may have to be completely abandoned as in the original history.

So after Haniyev decided to return to Chernobyl, he persuaded Chekhov to evacuate Chernobyl as a whole to the south.

However, Haniyev did not have much confidence that he could really persuade Chekhov.

Because Chernobyl is different from Pripyat. Although Pripyat is a city in name, it is actually just a town affiliated with the nuclear power plant.

An accident occurred at the nuclear power plant, and this affiliated town had to be abandoned as the nuclear power plant became dangerous. The employees and their families living there had to be evacuated. As the mayor, even if I did this without the consent of the leadership, although it was a bit unconventional and self-willed, it was still acceptable.

It cannot be said that there are no problems at all, but at least it will not be criticized as being unorganized and undisciplined.

But Chernobyl is different from Pripyat.

This is a city with a long history and is also the center of the region. Not to mention Chekhov, even the state leaders cannot order evacuation and relocation on their own initiative, because this involves hundreds of thousands of people and nearly 100,000 families. Any carelessness will cause major backlash, so it must be approved by the main leaders of Ukraine and even the Soviet leaders.

Although Chekhov was very decisive in many matters, he was trapped in the Soviet political model when faced with such major events, and perhaps he did not dare to issue orders at the risk of major political risks.

About half an hour later, the convoy arrived at the city of Chernobyl. Martial law had been implemented here, and the streets were under martial law. Soldiers and militiamen were guarding the streets and buildings, looking solemn and majestic.

At the intersections leading into the city, police from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and militia were checking the vehicles and people queuing to enter.

The motorcade of Haniyev and other major city leaders said a few words and quickly crossed the cordon and returned to the municipal building.

As soon as he got off the car in front of the building, Haniyev saw Chekhov coming out to greet him with an umbrella.

Haniyev knew that Chekhov was worried about being hit by the radioactive dust, so he hurried forward and said, "Secretary, let's go inside and talk. It's not safe outside anymore."

He saw Kartov cowering behind Chekhov and said, "Secretary Kartov, there should be some radiation-proof lead suits in our Forestry Commission's warehouse. Please send someone to get them. All our Chernobyl leaders need to wear them. We can't risk our health for disaster relief."

Kartov nodded and said, "I've already sent someone to get it, but Secretary Chekonenfu said that since you, a great hero, have returned, he must come to greet you personally."

Haniyev's eyes suddenly turned red, and he bowed deeply to Chekhov and began to express his loyalty and sing a high-sounding tune.

As they were talking, everyone entered the building and walked into the office one after another.

Haniyev took off his asbestos mask and immediately reported to Chekhov and other regional leaders.

Although Chekov and others had learned the details over the phone, they were still frightened when they heard it again. At the same time, they looked at Nicholas, the Pripyat secretary, who had been following Haniyev and acting as his yes-man since he got off the car, with secret dissatisfaction.

After briefly reporting on his actions and the current evacuation situation, Haniyev directly expressed his concern that the radiation would continue to increase and expand to a wider area. He strongly requested Secretary Chekhov to apply for the evacuation of citizens in the entire Chernobyl area to further south, preferably to Kiev.

Chekhov nodded and said, "We don't need to discuss whether to evacuate or how to evacuate yet. Secretary Shcherbitsky has already sent a Central Commissioner to take charge of disaster relief. We'll apply to him after he arrives."

Seeing Chekhov still trying to argue, Haniyev whispered, "Secretary Chekhov, you are the founder and leader of our Chernobyl region. The people love and respect you very much. If you don't stand on the side of the people and protect their lives in such an issue, when the public is angry in the future, we will all be despised by future generations. If public outrage really arises, do you think the higher authorities will push everyone here as scapegoats?"

After the people and convoys from Pripyat returned to Chernobyl, I guess the citizens of Chernobyl have already known the news of the nuclear power plant accident.

Even if we don't organize their evacuation, citizens who have the conditions will find ways to flee to Kiev."

Haniyev paused, then saw that the faces of Chekhov, Petrov, Kartov, and others had become increasingly solemn. He then struck while the iron was hot and said, "The current situation is not optimistic. Once the people know about it, they will apply for evacuation. Neither Kiev nor Moscow will ignore public opinion and disregard the safety of hundreds of thousands of lives.

In essence, the evacuation is a done deal, undeniable; the only difference is a day early or late. I think all we need to do is put ourselves in the shoes of the people and make advance arrangements for the evacuation. Even if we can't make the decision to evacuate privately, we must make adequate preparations.

In this way, when the time comes to evacuate, we can ensure a safe and rapid departure. In this way, the hundreds of thousands of people in Chernobyl will be grateful to you..."

Because Haniyev was anxious, his words were inevitably a bit impolite, but Chekhov and others did not care too much. After thinking about it, they knew that Haniyev was right.

Especially Chekhov, thinking that the people might have already known the truth, suddenly came to his senses and whispered, "Now the citizens will soon know the real situation. If we don't let them evacuate at that time, it will cause a bad impact.

But if they were allowed to leave on their own, they might be exposed to the air and contaminated by radioactive dust...

How about this, Haniyev, we allow those with cars to leave first, and the rest of the people stay at home and wait for collective evacuation and migration, how about that?

Haniyev nodded and said, "That's great. I believe that under the watchful eyes of hundreds of thousands of people, the commander-in-chief from Kiev will not disregard human lives."

Under Haniyev's strong persuasion, Chekhov apparently agreed to strive for relocation.

However, due to the complicated political struggle between Sherbitsky and Gorbachev, Haniyev was still worried that the Soviet Central Committee, that is, the Kremlin in Moscow, would issue an order to Sherbitsky to order Chernobyl not to relocate in large numbers for the time being. The reason was probably that a large-scale evacuation to Kiev would cause panic among the people.

However, Haniyev was powerless to participate in the battle between gods. He could only hope that the new commander-in-chief would be a capable person, so that he could evacuate the personnel before Moscow's order was issued.

Haniyev has no confidence in Gorbachev's bottom line, and is even less willing to gamble. He just wants to ensure the safety of hundreds of thousands of people's lives as soon as possible. This is for his conscience and for himself.

After all, he was able to save hundreds of thousands of people in Chernobyl, and these people would become his popular support for running for president after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Perhaps by that time, they would become millions of people.

With a few million loyal voters, Haniyev thought he might even be able to become the president of Ukraine in the 1994 election.

Chapter 047: The Nuclear Age (6)

Just as Haniyev persuaded Chekhov, before matters such as disaster relief and resettlement of personnel were finalized, a young female secretary came in quickly and whispered something in Chekhov's ear.

Cheković stood up and said, "Comrades, the leaders from Kiev have already left, and experts from Moscow have also arrived. Secretary Shcherbitsky has ordered the troops stationed at Chernobyl to enter the nuclear power plant to conduct a preliminary blockade and cleanup.

The meeting was suspended. I was going to meet General Pikalov, commander of the chemical forces. He was leading the nuclear protection forces to fly to the accident site by helicopter. More than a dozen combat divisions of the Kyiv Military District, including the 17th, 51st, 97th, 15th, 40th Motorized Rifle Divisions and the 34th and 161st Motorized Rifle Divisions, were also urgently mobilized and would arrive by noon at the latest.

I'm afraid that the aftermath of this incident won't require any input from me or anyone here."

Petrov breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Professionals should do their job professionally. The nuclear protection forces will surely be able to handle the Chernobyl issue quickly."

Then everyone hurriedly got up, and Chekhov and Petrov quickly went downstairs and left.

Things turned out just as Chekhov said. At noon, he and Petrov returned to the city hall building and called everyone to a meeting again. Only two things were reported at the meeting. The first was that martial law was implemented in Chernobyl, so General Vladimir Pikalov was currently in charge of the rescue work of the nuclear power plant, and everyone had to cooperate unconditionally. The second was that the commander-in-chief sent by Kiev would take over all power and decide on the evacuation of all personnel in Chernobyl.

Although Haniyev had long known that in this major incident, since he issued the evacuation order in a hurry and saved more than 50,000 citizens, the rescue and all subsequent work of the Chernobyl nuclear accident were no longer under his control, and even the regional and state party committees had no right to lead.

As the situation escalates, the Kyiv Military District is currently under military control. Once the commander-in-chief sent by the Central Committee of the Ukraine Party arrives, he will take over the evacuation and resettlement of hundreds of thousands of people in the region.

Once the opinions and orders from the republican leaders and the Kremlin are in place, this matter will be entirely decided by important leaders. As a small mayor, Haniyev may not even be qualified to issue orders, let alone execute them.

Haniyev could only stay in the office and anxiously wait for news from all parties.

It was already noon on April 27. According to Chekov, Ukraine and Moscow had not made any statement regarding his report requesting evacuation.

Haniyev knew that Gordi wanted Sherbitsky to make the decision, but he would interfere with Sherbitsky, causing the people of Ukraine and even the Soviet people to be angry at Sherbitsky for disregarding the safety of people's lives.

Haniyev guessed that Goritu was still the same as in his previous life, wanting to use the nuclear accident to suppress the Ukrainian gang headed by Sherbitsky. This attitude of treating people's lives as a joke made Haniyev completely disappointed in Goritu, and he cursed him countless times in his heart.

Haniyev couldn't help but think that after the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident, nuclear radioactive dust will continue to be released. Before Moscow experts and the army completely seal the nuclear power plant with a cement coffin, at least in the next few days, nuclear radioactive dust will continue to fall from the sky, continuously polluting the Chernobyl area and even Kiev.

The Chernobyl area was definitely becoming increasingly dangerous. Staying here would obviously not end well. Even if I could rely on anti-radiation lead clothing to isolate the radiation from the air, what about drinking water? What about food?

If it is not dealt with soon, Kyiv will also suffer from serious pollution as in its previous life.

So when Haniyev waited until the afternoon of the 27th and learned that Kiev and Moscow still had not made a statement, he realized that it was unrealistic to rely on the Soviet leader Gorbachev, and Shcherbitsky did not dare to abandon the interests of Ukrainian political groups for hundreds of thousands of civilians. It was no longer realistic to rely on the internal operations of the Soviet political system to achieve the rapid evacuation of Chernobyl citizens.

Even though more than 20,000 citizens of Chernobyl had gone to Kiev in eight hours, the remaining people were unable to leave on their own. At the same time, since the majority of citizens could not leave, as a regional leader, he obviously could not leave either.

However, if he stayed one more day, there would be a huge risk of radiation entering the body and inducing cancer. Haniyev felt that he could not wait any longer.

So he decided to use foreign forces to stimulate this matter and solve it by breaking the convention.

A phone call was made to Anato in Kiev, and around seven o'clock in the evening, Anato rushed over from Kiev.

Although martial law was implemented, Chernobyl relied on the militia, which was managed by regional officials.

After nightfall, Haniyev took the opportunity to go out for a routine inspection and stopped at the intersection heading from Kiev to Chernobyl to wait.

At around 7 o'clock, Anato was seen driving in the distance. After getting out of the car, Haniyev took advantage of the fact that no one was around and immediately handed Anato a film and materials on the accident situation and how he and the regional leaders handled it.

After quietly instructing Anato on how to report, Haniyev got in the car and left.

After receiving the manuscript and film from Haniyev, Anato was filled with excitement and thought: With this big news from Haniyev, I will definitely have no problem getting a permanent position. Mr. Mike might even let me be the head of the Kiev office. After all, he said that if I could get important information about the Chernobyl area, he would recommend me for the position. This nuclear accident is definitely the biggest news...

Carrying the film and written materials, Anato was so excited that he turned the car around slowly and drove quickly towards Kiev as if he was holding his own future.

……

As he watched the taillights of Anato's car moving farther and farther away in the rearview mirror, Haniyev's uneasy mood gradually subsided. At the same time, he began to imagine what kind of reaction the news report would cause from the Soviet side, and how much future he could gain from this report.

Haniyev has always been very clear that before and even after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the West had the right to speak and the dominant power. Even before Putin came to power, during the entire Gorbachev era and the Yeltsin era, the attitudes of these two leaders towards Western countries such as Britain and the United States were somewhat like bootlickers.

It can be said that the Western media not only has an inciting effect on the Soviet people, but also has a great influence on the views of the current General Secretary Gorbachev.

Haniyev knew that this was a symbol of the Soviet Union's complete loss of confidence in its path. During Gorbachev's term, the Soviet Union would completely collapse from top to bottom. At such a critical juncture, he had no ability or right to stop it, nor could he help. All he could do was to take on this force of collapse and mobilize external forces to help him achieve his goal.

Haniyev suddenly thought of a term - "saving the country by taking a roundabout way."

Although he felt that what he did might not be right, Haniyev knew that no matter what he wanted to do, especially at this critical juncture, making good use of the power of Western public opinion was necessary and the best choice.

Chapter 048: The Nuclear Age (7)

Anato came to Chernobyl quietly and left quietly ten minutes later.

In this chaotic situation, a Ukrainian who came from Kiev and returned to Kiev did not attract anyone's attention.

At this time, although Ukraine, the military, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs were on high alert and worried that foreign media reporters would enter Chernobyl, they had not yet realized that many Soviet people had infiltrated from abroad and were willing to work for them.

This kind of infiltration relies purely on the magic of money, because when everyone was making revolution and had to eat coarse food, they could endure hunger in order to eat meat and drink wine after the revolution was successful.

However, after more than 70 years of revolution, the quality of life is still far worse than that of their capitalist neighbors. This blow has long made the Soviet people unable to hold on. After all, no matter how lofty the ideals are, they cannot stop people from being full. People still need to eat, right?

Therefore, with the help of Gorbachev and the encouragement and temptation of Western media holding US dollars, not only Anatoly and Haniyev, but also more enthusiastic citizens of Kyiv came to the Chernobyl area to take photos and collect evidence, or the people who returned to Kyiv from the Chernobyl area leaked the information they knew.

Anato is a man with great ideals and ambitions. As one of the Soviet Union's late Western herding dogs, he is keen to earn a ticket to the Western Paradise by actively performing and making great contributions in front of the Reuters leadership.

In today's era, Anato's choice will definitely have a chance of success, but it is hard to say if it is five years later.

As an idealistic young man, Anato traveled to Chernobyl at the risk of being exposed to radiation in order to obtain first-hand information from Haniyev.

Of course, Mike's words and the tone of Reuters' report are that Reuters' contracted reporter Mr. Anatto risked his life to investigate and collect evidence in order to get the first-hand information about the nuclear power plant accident that concerns the safety and survival of hundreds of millions of people in Europe.

Anato returned to Kiev very happily. Thanks to Chekhov's decision to allow Chernobyl residents to leave on their own, Anato was not questioned at the checkpoint.

At this time in Kiev at night, rumors of a serious fire in the Chernobyl area had begun to spread in the streets, but the nuclear power plant accident had not yet spread.

After Anato and Mike met, Mike saw the information that Anato had desperately obtained from Chernobyl about the explosion at the nuclear power plant and the nuclear leak. He suddenly remembered that he had learned in the morning that the Kiev Military District wanted to send a large number of troops to the Chernobyl area, and then he believed it completely.

But Mike was still worried and asked again, "Shajia Vasilievich, have you met Haniyev? Didn't he become the mayor of Pripyat?"

Anato smiled and said, "Sir, please read the rest of the document. It shows how Haniyev, as mayor, handled the situation immediately. I think it's absolutely necessary for us to conduct a series of comparative reports on the Chernobyl nuclear power plant explosion and the reactions of Haniyev, Chernobyl, Ukraine, and Moscow after the explosion.

This reflects the contempt of the Moscow masters for the lives of the Ukrainian people, and also shows how many talents, such as the outstanding Haniyev, were buried by the Soviet Union's corrupt and outdated system.