The Legal Heritage of the Atom 149
What does it mean that environmental victims are increasingly trying to
enforce their rights internationally against the Russian and Ukrainian state?
Here, a process that also took place in other spheres in the post-Soviet states
becomes visible: the intrusion of international actors, value and order concepts, and legal procedural practices, which also led to certain internationalization tendencies with regard to ideas of civil rights, legitimate authority
practice, or historical justice. The once helpless victims of the Soviet past now
presented themselves to international organizations as self-confident citizens
who knew and claimed their rights vis-à-vis their respective states.
Some Soviet citizens had already had earlier experiences in contact with
actors from Western countries since the late 1980s in connection with international Chernobyl aid. 44 The promising opportunities opened up by foreign
actors were increasingly recognized, even in a country like Belarus, which
is still ruled by an authoritarian regime. And so, one letter from former Nazi
victims to the Belarusian President Lukashenka in 2002 reads the self-confident threat that was put forward: “If the President does not read our letter this
time either, we will turn to the international organizations!” 45
Legal Regulations for Victims in the Aftermath
of Chernobyl and the Fall of the Soviet Union
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, laws were passed in Ukraine, Belarus,
Russia, and Kazakhstan on compensation and social protection of victims
of nuclear accidents and radioactive contamination. These laws concern the
reactor catastrophe in Chernobyl, the nuclear waste accidents in Chelyabinsk,
and the nuclear test site in Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan. In the successor states
of the Soviet Union, there are some similarities between the design of the
legal regulations and their practical implementation, but there are also clear
differences, which shall be analyzed here in a comparative approach.
The reactor accident in Chernobyl and the bad information policies and
delay of countermeasures by the Soviet authorities had mobilized large
sections of the population, especially in Ukraine. Chernobyl awakened an
ecological awareness that became an important element of the political opposition. Already in the final phase of the Soviet Union, the question of reparation for the victims of the Chernobyl disaster was on Ukraine’s and Belarus’
political agenda. Scientists of the national academies of sciences in Ukraine
and Belarus developed radiation protection concepts (in connection with the
design of their own republican Chernobyl programs), which differed from
those of the Soviet Ministry of Health. 46 The national Chernobyl programs
in Ukraine and Belarus met with criticism in Moscow mainly because of
the high costs for the union budget. In addition, the Soviet republics also
competed among themselves for funds from Moscow for their exposed populations. 47 In February 1991, i.e. before the dissolution of the Soviet Union,
social protection laws were passed in Ukraine and Belarus based on independent national radiation protection concepts and signed by the Chairmen
What does it mean that environmental victims are increasingly trying to
enforce their rights internationally against the Russian and Ukrainian state?
Here, a process that also took place in other spheres in the post-Soviet states
becomes visible: the intrusion of international actors, value and order concepts, and legal procedural practices, which also led to certain internationalization tendencies with regard to ideas of civil rights, legitimate authority
practice, or historical justice. The once helpless victims of the Soviet past now
presented themselves to international organizations as self-confident citizens
who knew and claimed their rights vis-à-vis their respective states.
Some Soviet citizens had already had earlier experiences in contact with
actors from Western countries since the late 1980s in connection with international Chernobyl aid. 44 The promising opportunities opened up by foreign
actors were increasingly recognized, even in a country like Belarus, which
is still ruled by an authoritarian regime. And so, one letter from former Nazi
victims to the Belarusian President Lukashenka in 2002 reads the self-confident threat that was put forward: “If the President does not read our letter this
time either, we will turn to the international organizations!” 45
Legal Regulations for Victims in the Aftermath
of Chernobyl and the Fall of the Soviet Union
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, laws were passed in Ukraine, Belarus,
Russia, and Kazakhstan on compensation and social protection of victims
of nuclear accidents and radioactive contamination. These laws concern the
reactor catastrophe in Chernobyl, the nuclear waste accidents in Chelyabinsk,
and the nuclear test site in Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan. In the successor states
of the Soviet Union, there are some similarities between the design of the
legal regulations and their practical implementation, but there are also clear
differences, which shall be analyzed here in a comparative approach.
The reactor accident in Chernobyl and the bad information policies and
delay of countermeasures by the Soviet authorities had mobilized large
sections of the population, especially in Ukraine. Chernobyl awakened an
ecological awareness that became an important element of the political opposition. Already in the final phase of the Soviet Union, the question of reparation for the victims of the Chernobyl disaster was on Ukraine’s and Belarus’
political agenda. Scientists of the national academies of sciences in Ukraine
and Belarus developed radiation protection concepts (in connection with the
design of their own republican Chernobyl programs), which differed from
those of the Soviet Ministry of Health. 46 The national Chernobyl programs
in Ukraine and Belarus met with criticism in Moscow mainly because of
the high costs for the union budget. In addition, the Soviet republics also
competed among themselves for funds from Moscow for their exposed populations. 47 In February 1991, i.e. before the dissolution of the Soviet Union,
social protection laws were passed in Ukraine and Belarus based on independent national radiation protection concepts and signed by the Chairmen