Chernobyl demonstrators to protest Russia’s nuclear plans for Belarus

April 26, BPN. On April 26, Belarusians in Canada, Denmark, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, the United Kingdom and the United States will gather for the Path of Chernobyl, annual rallies commemorating the anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

Participants in this year’s rallies will protest Russia’s plan to deploy nuclear weapons in Belarus.

Belarusian opposition leader Śviatłana Cichanoŭskaja, European Parliament’s rapporteur on Belarus Petras Auštrevičius and Žygimantas Pavilionis, head of the Lithuanian parliamentary group supporting democratic Belarus, will address the rally in Vilnius at 6 pm.

The largest man-made disaster in human history occurred 37 years ago at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant located in present-day Ukraine. Over 70 percent of the nuclear fallout from the explosion at the fourth power unit contaminated Belarus.

In January 2023, over 15 percent of Belarusian forests and 11 percent of farmlands were still contaminated with radioactive substances, according to the Belarusian official data.