DATE=4/26/96
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
NUMBER=5-33120
TITLE=CHERNOBYL CEMETERY
BYLINE=ELIZABETH ARROTT
DATELINE=MOSCOW
CONTENT=
VOICED AT: 

INTRO:  RUSSIAN PRESIDENT BORIS YELTSIN PAID TRIBUTE TODAY 
(FRIDAY) TO THE MEN AND WOMEN WHO TEN YEARS AGO GAVE THEIR LIVES 
TRYING TO PUT OUT THE FIRE AT THE CHERNOBYL NUCLEAR POWER 
STATION.  IN MOSCOW, OTHER TOP OFFICIALS GATHERED AT THE CEMETERY
WHERE MANY OF THE FIREFIGHTERS ARE BURIED.  V-O-A'S ELIZABETH 
ARROTT ATTENDED A CEREMONY FOR THESE VICTIMS OF CHERNOBYL.

TEXT:  

                    ///  OFFICIAL SPEECH  ///

THE VOICE OF THE OFFICIAL DRIFTS OUT ACROSS THE CEMETERY, DULL 
AND HEAVY LIKE THE GREY SKY ABOVE.  EVERYTHING HERE AT MITENO 
SEEMS GREY.  THE LONG ROWS OF TOMBSTONES.  THE FACES OF THE 
MOURNERS.  EVEN THE COAT WORN BY THE MOTHER STANDING AT HER SON'S
GRAVE.

         ///  LUBOV ACT -- IN RUSSIAN  - FADE UNDER  ///

THE ELDERLY WOMAN IS REMEMBERING HER SON -- SENIOR SERGEANT 
NIKOLAI IVANOVICH TYTENYOK OR, TO HIS MOTHER, SIMPLY KOLYA.  HE 
WAS A FIREFIGHTER, SHE SAYS, FIRST WITH THE NAVY, THEN THE ARMY. 
TEN YEARS AGO, HE WAS BASED IN PRIPYAT, THE TOWN NEAREST THE 
CHERNOBYL POWER STATION.

         ///  LUBOV ACT -- IN RUSSIAN  - FADE UNDER  ///

THEY WENT THERE WHEN THE FIRE ALARM SOUNDED, THE MOTHER SAYS. THE
FIRE WAS THERE AND THEN. . .   HER VOICE FALTERS.  THAT'S ALL, 
SHE SAYS QUIETLY.

A CARVING ON HIS GRAVESTONE SHOWS WHAT KOLYA MUST HAVE LOOKED 
LIKE THAT NIGHT.   HIS FACE WAS HANDSOME, RUGGED, WITH A 
MOUSTACHE THAT MADE HIM APPEAR PERHAPS MORE GROWN UP THAN HE 
REALLY WAS.  THE DATES ON HIS GRAVE SHOW HE WAS JUST 23.

THE DATES TELL SOMETHING ELSE.  KOLYA DIED THREE WEEKS AFTER THE 
EXPLOSION.   THREE WEEKS IN WHICH THE RADIATION OF THAT FIRST 
NIGHT KILLED HIM.   ONE SHUDDERS TO THINK WHAT HIS BODY LOOKED 
LIKE WHEN IT WAS LAID IN THE LEAD-LINED COFFIN.  HIS IS A DEATH 
BEST LEFT UNIMAGINED.

           ///  LUBOV ACT - RUSSIAN - FADE UNDER  ///

HIS MOTHER, OF COURSE, CANNOT FORGET.  SHE COMES EVERY YEAR TO 
REMEMBER, TRAVELLING FROM UKRAINE TO STAND IN THIS DESOLATE 
CEMETERY.  IT IS BITTERLY COLD, BUT SHE DOES  NOT  MOVE.

HER FACE SHOWS YEARS OF A DIFFICULT LIFE.  SHE SAYS SHE HAS HAD  
NO  HELP FROM THE GOVERNMENT, DESPITE THE PROMISES MADE.  AS SHE 
SPEAKS, ANOTHER OFFICIAL DRONES ON IN THE BACKGROUND, PLEDGING 
MORE HELP TO THE SURVIVORS, PRAISING THE VICTIMS FOR GOING 
PROUDLY TO THEIR DEATHS.

THERE IS A STATUE HERE AT THE CEMETERY, A MEMORIAL TO THE 
VICTIMS.  IT IS A CONCRETE WAVE, AN EXPLOSION BURSTING OUT BEHIND
THE STATUE OF A MAN.  HIS BODY IS CURLED IN PAIN, OR FEAR, OR 
BOTH, IT IS  NOT  CLEAR.

THE STATUE IS GROTESQUE, MUCH LIKE THE PAIN AND SUFFERING THE 
VICTIMS AND THE SURVIVORS ENDURED.  SUFFERING, TO LOOK AT KOLYA'S
MOTHER, THAT ENDURES TO THIS DAY.  (SIGNED)

NEB/EA/JWH/GPT

26-Apr-96 1:51 PM EDT (1751 UTC)
NNNN

Source: Voice of America
.