Poison Fire, Sacred Earth,
TESTIMONIES, LECTURES, CONCLUSIONS,
THE WORLD URANIUM HEARING, SALZBURG 1992
pages 231-232
A movement for a nuclear-free North was
begun in our district. It is the movement "To
Novaya Zemlya" in the region and in our
district. It is an anti-nuclear movement. . . . I
want to say that the sea space of
the Barents and the Kara Seas, which wash around
the archipelagos of Novaya Zemlya, serves as a
place for the final storage of radioactive waste. For
example, in the Karsk Sea 11,000 containers
with radioactive waste are buried. They are
located in 15 regions of the basins of the seas. 15
reactors of atomic submarines and ice-breakers are
also buried there. In 15 regions from 1961 to 1990,
radioactive waste was released which was carried
out by the ships of the Military Sea Fleet and
the Atomic Fleet.
You can imagine what damage has been
inflicted on human lives, on the development of
the world of animals and plants. The basins of our
seas were turned into a cemetery for radioactive
waste.
. . . I hope that having heard us, our
voice, everyone in the world will start the fight
for prohibition not only of nuclear tests but also of
the use of uranium for peaceful as well as for
military purposes.
Ivan Yevsyugin
Ivan Yevsyugin, Nentsy Nation, Novaya Zemlya,
CIS. Representative of the village soviet, member of the
Anti-Nuclear Movement Novaya Zemlya.
(This speech was held originally in Russian)
Honoured Participants and Organizers of the
Hearing! Ladies and Gentlemen! Friends! Thank
you for giving us the possibility of appearing here
before you. My name is Ivan Yevsyugin. I was
born in Russia on the island of Kalguyev, which
is located in the Barents Sea. I represent the
executive and representative authority on the
island of Kalguyev.
Our island is located near the atomic
testing site of Novaya Zemlya. I belong to the
Nentsy. For many years, literally till the end of
the eighties and the beginning of the nineties, the
world and even the inhabitants of Russia and of
the countries of CIS didn't know about the
existence of a nuclear testing site on Novaya
Zemlya. All this was kept secret, was out-of-bounds
to unauthorized persons. Connected with
the beginning of the democratic processes at the
end of the eighties, articles and data about the
existence of the nuclear testing site began to
appear in the mass media as a result of pressure
from the public movements.
A movement for a nuclear-free North was
begun in our district. It is the movement "To
Novaya Zemlya" in the region and in our
district. It is an anti-nuclear movement. Several times the
representatives of the district authorities, the
deputies of the district council, all the public
turned to our government in order to stop the
nuclear experiments on Novaya Zemlya. Completing
the appearance of the representative
of my people I want to say that the sea space of
the Barents and the Kara Seas, which wash around
the archipelagos of Novaya Zemlya, serves as a
place for the final storage of radioactive waste. For
example, in the Karsk Sea 11,000 containers
with radioactive waste are buried. They are
located in 15 regions of the basins of the seas. 15
reactors of atomic submarines and ice-breakers are
also buried there. In 15 regions from 1961 to 1990,
radioactive waste was released which was carried
out by the ships of the Military Sea Fleet and
the Atomic Fleet.
You can imagine what damage has been
inflicted on human lives, on the development of
the world of animals and plants. The basins of our
seas were turned into a cemetery for radioactive
waste. Not long ago, in 1991, a decree from the
President of the Russian Federation, Yeltsin,
about the forbidding of nuclear tests on Novaya
Zemlya was passed. We accepted this decree
favourably, but some time ago, in February 1992,
decree no. 194 dealing with the atomic testing
site on Novaya Zemlya was issued from which
we learned -- I mean the inhabitants of the
Arkhangelsk district and region -- that the islands
of Novaya Zemlya had been removed from the
jurisdiction of the Arkhangelsk region. Novaya
Zemlya was reorganized by this decree as the
central testing site of the Russian Federation and was
incorporated into the federal property of the
Russian Federation. In connection with this, all
the inhabitants of the region and of our district
expressed their protest.
And finally -- my time is running out -- I
want to say that our forum which is taking place
now, must serve to continue the fight of all the
peoples and nations of the terrestrial globe for
peace, for the ending of nuclear tests, for it's their
destruction. I hope that having heard us, our
voice, everyone in the world will start the fight
for prohibition not only of nuclear tests but also of
the use of uranium for peaceful as well as for
military purposes.
Thank you for your attention.