More than relics: what resettlers from the Chernobyl zone keep. Villages in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone

But in addition to two cities, the Chernobyl disaster affected about 230 villages in the Kyiv and Zhytomyr regions and about the same number in Belarus. And while on the Belarusian side the infected villages were mostly demolished and buried, on the Ukrainian side most of them still stand, overgrown with forest. But here and there in these empty villages you can see well-kept houses with painted shutters and tropics at the gates - these are “self-settlers”. This is the name given to people who voluntarily returned to the Exclusion Zone from evacuation, bypassing checkpoints along partisan paths, most of them old people who remembered the war and did not forget the skills of living in a land that suddenly became “foreign.” The word “self-settler” seems offensive and cynical to many, because these people live in their own homes and on their native land. There were a little more than a thousand of them, now less than two hundred remain, and the rest died mainly from ordinary old age or even decided to leave for the mainland. Two - an old man and an old woman - live even in a 10-kilometer zone.

Abandoned villages in the Exclusion Zone come across all the time, especially if you turn from main road, and frankly speaking, their appearance will not surprise a person who grew up in the Russian Non-Black Earth Region. Yes, this statement is completely in the style of hysterical top bloggers, but it is true - the Pskov or Kostroma outback is visually very similar to Chernobyl. But the roads here are very unusual - almost without potholes, but with grass growing through the asphalt, and you can’t see any garbage on the sides:

We stopped for half an hour in a village with the extremely Polesie name Rudnya-Veresnya on the way to the abandoned pioneer camp “Fairytale”.

Polesie is a special region in general. It’s not Ukrainians or Belarusians who live here, but “tuteishi” (“local people”) - people with a very memorable appearance and an incomprehensible dialect. The atmosphere of rural Polesie is very accurately conveyed by Kuprin in his “Oles”, I don’t even have anything to add. The forests in the Pripyat floodplain are so dense that even the Wehrmacht armies could not unite because of them. And in general, Polesie villages seem to me like a collective image of the East Slavic civilization. This kind of footage could well have been filmed in Ukraine, and in Belarus, and in Latgale, and in the Komi Republic, and on the Volga, and in the foothills of Altai.

There are even houses with carved platbands:

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It is interesting that the Chernobyl land was also one of the “Old Believer enclaves” - three of them (also Vetka in the Gomel region and Starodubye in the Bryansk region) formed a large “archipelago”, which was the cradle of fugitive priesthood (that is, Old Believers-priests who did not accept in the 1830s Belokrinitsky consent and in the twentieth century united into their own, Novozybkov consent). Old Believers in the vicinity of Chernobyl made up 15% of the population, living mainly on the left bank of the Pripyat, where in the former village of Zamoshnya an archaic-looking cemetery and the ruins of a monastery were preserved.

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Once a year, the Zone is opened to everyone - “for the graves,” that is, on the days of remembrance of the dead in mid-May. The cemeteries here are well-kept and not forgotten, and I would say they look much better than many cemeteries on the mainland. For many evacuees, these graves are the last link connecting them with their native land.

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But there is a suspicious hole on the edge of the churchyard - apparently, some decided to break this “thread” and reburied their relatives on Mainland. Pay attention, by the way, to what kind of sandy soil- it is very infertile, hence the Polesie desolation. And alas, the “Chernobyl trace” has become as integral a part of Polesie as forest farms, witches, partisans and wooden churches.

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The last point of our entire journey to the Exclusion Zone was the village of Kulovatoye on its southeastern edge - the broken road there seems endless. Kulovatoye, together with neighboring villages, was part of a large state farm, and as the organizer explained to me, Kulovatoye itself was “clean,” but other villages of the state farm were “polluted,” and the authorities considered it easier to include Kulovatoye in the Zone and evacuate the entire former state farm . Nowadays 18 people live here, that is, every tenth is a self-settler.

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The hostess met us at the open gate. We called her by her first name and patronymic, but I forgot her patronymic, and from the first minutes to myself I called her nothing other than Baba Ganya. While leaving Kyiv, we bought food and medicine - for example, I was carrying a large pack of tea and a bag of rice. But you should have seen with what sincere joy Baba Ganya greeted us and rushed to hug everyone who got out of the minibus! It's very lonely for these people to live here...

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Typical Polesie hut:

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The interior is roughly like that of an ethnographic museum, and the only reminder that this is not the 1950s is the TV in the second room:

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On the couch next to the Russian stove is the second grandmother, quiet and inactive. Her face is not very pale - maybe she just barely goes outside, or maybe she has leukemia (leukemia)...

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The self-settlers were “legalized” only in 1993, and I still don’t understand why they weren’t deported earlier, maybe there were some legal subtleties, or maybe there was simply no time for them. The first years were the most difficult - without electricity, without pensions (or rather, pensions came to the mainland at the place of evacuation), without regular medical care. Then Ukraine came to terms with their presence - they restored communications, issued a radiotelephone to each village, and put them on all kinds of records at their actual place of residence. Self-settlers receive pensions (with a “Chernobyl” supplement), a mobile store comes to them once a week, and even mobile phones have replaced radiotelephones. However, they live mainly by subsistence farming (“don’t buy them potatoes or berries - they’ll be offended!”). Well water:

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Utensils, zucchini and chickens - larger livestock, however, are not kept here:

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Table with dosimeter - Chernobyl still life. However, these products smell less than store-bought ones in Kyiv.

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This is the farewell buffet. Which, by the way, was also attended by other villagers - here another grandmother peeks out from behind Baba Ganya:

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They say in lately In the Zone, truly “self-settlers” began to appear - that is, people who arbitrarily seized empty land. Security periodically catches blueberry and mushroom pickers, who collect all this not for themselves, but for sale - keep this in mind in the Kyiv region! They also say that recently drug addicts and drug dealers have gotten into the habit of growing hemp here. There is even a rumor that Kyiv residents are also buying land in these forests." the mighty of the world"and are building their own dachas here - it’s not difficult for me to believe this; those in power in our country are quickly getting bogged down to the point that they stop taking into account not only legal, but also natural laws. However, I didn’t observe any signs of all of the above in the Zone, so that I do not presume to assert the legitimacy of these rumors.

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Finally, we decided to take a walk around the village. A bus stop is overgrown right behind the fence of Baba Ganya’s house:

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The vast majority of huts are still abandoned:

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Behind the outskirts of the partisan-looking swamp - I can’t help thinking that at least one “fascist German invader” found his death in it in 1941-43. In the memoirs of self-settlers, a comparison of the Chernobyl disaster and the Great Patriotic War, especially in remote farmsteads, some have never even seen a Fritz:

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I wonder what kind of building it is and when it was built? The yellow wall seems even pre-revolutionary:

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Behind the fence, under the pine trees, the cemetery:

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The village itself. In one of these courtyards, a couple of other old people waved to us, inviting us to visit, and I felt sorry to refuse them. There are a lot of cats here, but I don't remember any dogs.

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It's amazing here clean air, and the silence is not dead, as in Pripyat, but ringing, iridescent, natural. After Pripyat, after abandoned stations, kindergartens, pioneer camps, everything just gave the eye a rest.

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And this is the paradox. For example, we calmly left the minibus without locking it. In the Exclusion Zone, you somehow very quickly cease to be afraid of people. Yes, invisible death is lurking under our feet here, but people... No one is the enemy.

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Another aspect of the Zone that I won’t write anything about, since I haven’t encountered it, is the stalkers. I couldn’t even ask anything intelligible about their “urban folklore”, which of course should exist, like any subculture... however, “so far no one has died among the stalkers, so there is no legend about the Black Stalker here.” They say that they consider lost and forgotten things to be “tribute to the Zone.” With them you can get to many objects that are closed to legal inspection - such as

Widespread contamination of the area around the destroyed reactor required the state to carry out an urgent evacuation civilian population, followed by its relocation to clean territories.
The decision to evacuate and resettle the population was made by a state commission former USSR 37 hours after destruction nuclear reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. According to official data, the evacuation of the population lasted from April 27 to August 16, 1986.
The evacuation of the population from the city of Pripyat and the Yanov railway station was carried out quite quickly and in an organized manner. About 50 thousand people were evicted from there. The population of the city of Pripyat was notified of the evacuation by radio at 12 o'clock on April 27, and 2 hours later the evacuation began. Two and a half hours after the start of the evacuation, the city of Pripyat was abandoned by the civilian population...
In total, 81 people were evicted during the first stage of evacuation. locality Kyiv and Zhytomyr regions. About 90 thousand people were resettled (although there is information that about 115 thousand people were evacuated).

Abandoned village of Rudki

According to scientists who study the processes of transformation of urban (man-made) landscapes of settlements into natural landscapes, all former settlements (villages and cities) should be called settlements, that is, such natural-territorial complexes in which people once lived, but today only abandoned houses, structures and communications remain. Since man almost does not interfere with the course of natural processes, such complexes become more and more wild and acquire natural look. Even in the city of Chernobyl and in the villages where “self-settlers” live, certain territories gradually transform into natural ecosystems.

The purpose of creating this section of the site “Chernobyl Exclusion Zone in Details” is to collect and accumulate information about populated areas Chernobyl zone alienation - history, past and current state. Information about cities, and is presented on separate pages of the site.

Denisovichi

This settlement is located 47 km from the village of Poleskoe (district center), and 3 kilometers from the state border with Belarus. There is evidence of the existence of the village of Denisovichi in the 18th century. In the village there was a wooden Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, which was built and consecrated in 1762. The church has not survived to this day.
In the mid-70s of the last century, about 530 residents lived in the village and there was an eight-year school.
The resettlement of the population from the village of Denisovichi was carried out in 1993 to the village of Trubovshchina, Yagotinsky district (Kiev region). In the village of Trubovshchina, housing was built for displaced people ( new part sat down).

Rudki

To the middle XIX century this settlement was called Rudyaki (emphasis on the last syllable). The village of Rudki is located 33 km northwest of the city of Chernobyl. Three kilometers from the village is the village of Rechitsa. The village of Rudki is small and did not have its own church. The village administratively belonged to the Rechitsa Village Council.
Residents of the village were resettled in 1986 to the village of Arkadievka, Zgurovsky district, Kyiv region.

Rechitsa

The village is located 45 km west of the city of Chernobyl (near the village of Tolsty Les). The village was the center of the village council to which they belonged: the villages of Buryakovka, Novaya Krasnitsa, Rudki. In the 70s of the last century, there were about 700 residents in the village and there was a primary school.
The resettlement of the population from the contaminated areas was carried out in 1986, who were resettled in the Kyiv region (villages of the Makarovsky district).

Thick Les

The village of Tolstoy Les is located 43 km from the regional center - the city of Chernobyl, and about 7 km from the Tolstoy Les railway station. This locality has big story and is remembered in documents from 1447. The village had the Holy Resurrection Church, which was built from wood and illuminated in 1760. In the early 70s of the last century, about 800 residents lived in the village. There was a secondary school in the village.
Village Thick Les was resettled in 1986 to the Makarovsky district of the Kyiv region.

Buryakovka

A small village located 50 kilometers from the city of Chernobyl. Mentions of the village of Buryakovka can be found in literary sources of the mid-19th century. According to administrative subordination, the village belonged to the Rechitsa Village Council.
After the Chernobyl accident, the residents of the village of Buryakovka were resettled, as well as the residents of Tolstoy Les, to the villages of the Makarovsky district of the Kyiv region.

Chistogalovka

The village is located 22 km from the city Chernobyl, and about 4 km from Chernobyl nuclear power plant. It should be noted that near the village of Chistogalovka, deposits of high-quality clay and sand were discovered, which were mined industrially and used for the construction of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The availability of local raw materials for the construction of the station played an important role in choosing the location of the nuclear power plant. On the map of 1971 - the general plan of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (in the lower left corner) the village of Chistogalovka and the location of the quarry are indicated.
The village has a relatively long history and is mentioned in literary sources of the mid-19th century (For example: Pokhilevich L. Legends. p. 153). In the mid-70s of the 20th century, about 1000 residents lived in the village. The village had an eight-year school.
After the accident, the village found itself in the center of radioactive contamination (western trace). After the eviction of the residents, the village (estates and buildings) was liquidated. It should be noted that the village was under a plume of fuel form (highly active particles nuclear fuel destroyed reactor) radioactive fallout. You can see what the “hot” particles found by scientists in the village of Chistogalovka look like in photographs taken with an electron microscope.
The civilian population of the village of Chistogalovka was resettled to the village of Gavronshchina, Makarovsky district, Kyiv region. Some families were evicted to the Nikolaev region.

Lubyanka

The village has ancient history and has been known since the 17th century. In the village of Lubyanka there was St. Nicholas wooden church. The time of construction of the church is unknown. The village of Lubyanka is located 36 km from the town of Poleskoye (district center). In the middle of the 20th century, about 1000 people lived in the village, and there was an eight-year school. There is evidence that the village of Lubyanka was the center of pottery in this area.
After the Chernobyl accident (in 1986), the population was resettled to the new village of Lubyanka in the Vasilkovsky district of the Kyiv region. The village was built specifically for resettlers from the Chernobyl exclusion zone.

Stechanka

The village of Stechanka has been known as a settlement since the 17th century. The village is located 25 km from the city of Chernobyl. It is known that the village was the ancient administrative, cultural and religious center of this region. Not only Orthodox Christians lived in the village of Stechanka, but also Catholics. The population of the village in the middle of the 20th century was about 1200 people. There is evidence that a school existed in the village for quite a long time.
After the Chernobyl accident, the population of the village of Stechanka was resettled to the village of Paskevshchina, Zgurovsky district, Kyiv region.

Varovichi

The village of Varovichi is located 20 km from the regional center of Poleskoye (Khabne), and 12 km from the Vilcha railway station. The village has been known since the first half of the 18th century. Was in the village ancient church Holy Martyr Paraskeva. The church was built in the first half of the 18th century. In 1906, a new Holy Spirit Church was built and illuminated in the village of Varovichi, to which the villages of Kovshilovka, Rudnya and Varovitskaya Buda were assigned.
The resettlement of the village population was carried out in 1986 to the village of Plesetskoye (Vasilkovsky district, Kyiv region).

Martynovichi

The village is located 21 km from the Vilcha railway station. The village of Martynovichi has been known since the 15th century and is mentioned in historical documents 1458 There was a St. George's Church in the village. The time of construction of the church is unknown, but there is evidence that the church already existed in the middle of the 17th century.
After the accident, the village of Martynovichi was not subject to mandatory resettlement, but part of the population left and settled in different places in Ukraine.

Literature about abandoned villages of the exclusion zone:

Kievshchinology. Handbook for the reader \ Edited by I.L. Likarchuk. – K.: [Vid.Eshke O.M.], 2001. – Vip.. 1. – 295 p.
Regions of the Chornobyl zone // Edited by P.Yu. Gritsenko. View of “Dovir”. - K. 1996. - 358 S.

Looking at the map of the Gomel region, you never cease to be amazed at how interesting the border of the resettlement zone was drawn as a result of the Chernobyl disaster. When you drive from Khoiniki to Bragin, it turns out that you cannot live on the right side of the road because of the high radiation pollution, and on the left side - everything is in order: live and enjoy pure nature. Bragin himself also turned out to be clean, but to the west of the city the evacuation zone is already beginning.

It is prohibited to be in the resettlement zone without appropriate permission - a fine of 10 to 50 basic units is provided. In Bragin, as well as in neighboring regional centers, part of whose territory falls within the resettlement zone, a monument was erected in memory of the villages that became victims of the nuclear accident.

Among others, Red Mountain is listed there. This village is located two kilometers from Bragin, on the right side of the Khoiniki-Bragin road.

The exit from the road to this village was once blocked by a barrier. As on all roads leading to the resettlement zone, there is a warning sign. On a roadside boulder it is written in paint that the village of Krasnaya Gora was resettled on September 1, 1986.

In fact, Krasnaya Gora cannot be called an uninhabited village. One family continues to live here. Their house stands out among the others - completely looted. First of all, they tore out floorboards from abandoned houses - in Polesie, floors are often made of oak, then - frames, then - roofing iron. Sometimes log cabins were also taken away. For 23 years, the courtyards were overgrown with thick weeds.

Houses located near the only residential area were slightly less looted. Electricity is supplied to the residential building. Several dogs bark behind a solid fence.

Strangers are greeted with caution here. Residents of “non-residential” villages prefer to hide when strangers appear. It is possible that strangers might even get shot.

Looking from behind the curtain at how I’m filming this village, the inhabitants of the house are finally convinced that I don’t look like a marauder, and they go out onto the road. Ivan Shilets and his wife Vera Shilets.

Please tell them about yourself and the village. Despite the fact that every year many journalists, and sometimes the President of Belarus, travel along the Khoiniki-Bragin road, almost no one looks into Krasnaya Gora.

They cannot be called self-settlers. The family lived here until April 26, 1986. Chernobyl simply divided their lives into “before” and “after” the disaster. Standing among the looted houses of their native village, Ivan and Vera enthusiastically talk about pre-Chernobyl life, remembering how rich their collective farm was. They remember that summer.

“Nobody told us what kind of radiation there was in 1986. It was a hot summer, we worked in the fields. And when the harvest was harvested, they said, leave - you can’t live here. What happens until the harvest was harvested, it was possible to live, but then it became impossible? And where did this harvest go?”

During the dawn of democracy in Belarus, answers to these questions were already being sought at the level of the Supreme Council. They never found it. Now the land in the resettlement zone is being reclaimed again - a plowed field is visible right behind the village. That is, you cannot live in the resettlement zone, but you can grow agricultural products. Bon appetit!

“We left here, got an apartment, and soon the chairman of the village council said: “Whoever wants to, you can come back.” We gave the apartment to the state and returned to our house. And then the chairman of the district executive committee said that you can’t live here. Where should we return? The officials say: “You have already been given an apartment, you are not allowed a second time.” So I had to stay.”

They did not turn off their electricity. Through the plowed crop field of the resettlement zone, the residential buildings of Bragin are visible. When you look at the seemingly metropolis-like regional center from the resettlement zone, you feel the energy of the Chernobyl zone especially strongly.

“It was especially scary to live the first winter after the disaster. It was very lonely. Now we’ve come to terms with it, but we can’t get used to loneliness.”

After watching enough Belarusian television, the head of the family asks me whether “The radiation is gone from here.” “And then, they say, now everything is in order, you can live, you can sow.”

I measure the background with a household dosimeter. Elevated, but not up to what is considered dangerous. I was in Krasnaya Gora when there was still snow and no dust, so the background was quite low, 30-40 MkR. In dry summer weather it will be higher.

The owners ask to measure in the yard. Here chickens graze and three small mongrels sit on a chain, who, making sure that the person who came with the owner is “one of their own,” bark joyfully at him. There is a metal stove near the house, on which food is usually cooked for the pigs. The ash in the furnace shows a “dangerous” level of over 60 MkR.

“Such a background gives the right to resettlement,”- I explain.

“So, I need to vacate the stove,”- Ivan jokes.

But the ash from the “fonit” bathhouse is much larger - 125 MkR. I advise you to throw this ash away and wash the bathhouse thoroughly.

“So we fertilize the garden with this ash. What should you sprinkle it with then?”- Vera is surprised.

The owners invite me to their house for dinner. On the table are homemade pickles, honey, and sausage and bread from Bragin.

“I go to Bragin, so I have to harness the horse. A good horse makes everyone jealous of me.”

They don’t keep a cow because the elderly family is no longer in good health. And where can a cow graze if this is a radiation-contaminated area?

A few months ago, the Shilets family finally got a wired telephone. It is difficult to imagine how they lived without a telephone before the advent of affordable cellular communications. Even a postal machine regularly delivers correspondence to the “resettled” village.

“They come here and different people, look how the houses were all looted. Most often, locals come, collect firewood, and then sell this firewood in Bragin. And before the 2006 elections, on behalf of local authorities, they came to dismantle the floors in the remaining huts. The boards were needed to repair polling stations.”

Once again I remind the hospitable hosts who heat the stove at home with the same wood that radionuclides enter the human body with smoke, which is much more dangerous than being in the air with an increased background radiation. But the Shilets family has no other choice but to heat the stove with “dirty” wood. Gas will not be supplied to a village with one house. And they have nowhere to leave the “resettled” village.

For organizing the trip.

Roads are destroyed not by themselves, but by the fact that cars drive on them. Due to practically complete absence the movements here look decent, despite many years of lack of repairs. Only the grass emerging here and there indicates that this is not an ordinary regional highway.

From almost any elevated point in this area, you can see the antennas of the abandoned military camp "Chernobyl-2" located in the distance. IN Soviet era there was a unique over-the-horizon radar station that recorded launches ballistic missiles around the world, and part of the early prevention system missile strike. Up to one and a half billion dollars were invested in the creation of this top-secret facility. Since radiation could interfere with the operation of the equipment, the station was shut down after the accident. But it was impossible to leave it, which is why the personnel and soldiers from security special forces forced to stay there received very high doses of radiation (up to several tens of roentgens). Subsequently, the station suffered the same fate as other objects of the Zone - the unique, ultra-modern equipment at that time, containing precious metals, was broken and stolen. Interest in Chernobyl 2 remains high to this day due to the 150-meter high high-alloy steel antennas still standing there.

As already indicated in one of the previous stories, the Exclusion Zone continues to remain fully electrified, with many lines having been re-routed.

Along the roads there is often evidence of the great agricultural importance that the region had before the accident. Vast collective farm fields are overgrown with weeds and young trees.

The skeletons of livestock farms flash by.

Empty huts of abandoned villages.

Villages that were close to the station and were too heavily infected were wiped off the face of the earth. Houses were destroyed by excavators and buried in the ground. The remaining hills have long since settled and are overgrown with grass, but the preserved street paths still remind of the past.

The kindergarten is the only building left from the village of Kopachi. The kindergarten is popular among excursionists due to its “convenient” location (right next to the highway from Chernobyl to Pripyat, which is why it often appears in photo reports). Inside it, we met an owl living there, which one of our guides managed to photograph.

In contrast to young Pripyat, an international Soviet city dominated by the Russian language and pan-Soviet culture, the Chernobyl region itself was a traditionally Ukrainian region.

The playground with its characteristic painted tires is very dirty - the dosimeter gives 200-400 microroentgens per hour.

Other villages were not destroyed, but without their inhabitants they were still doomed. Villages are disappearing faster than cities. They are already difficult to distinguish on satellite images - they have been almost completely swallowed up by the forest.

This is not a forest road, but a street in a small village.

The age of wooden houses is especially short. Subject to dampness and temperature fluctuations the wood soon begins to rot and deform.

Many wooden buildings have already collapsed.

All that was left of this hut was the roof.

In another twenty to thirty years, the only reminders of Ukrainian villages will be the skeletons of bus stops.

Brick houses will last longer, but they will be difficult to detect in forest thickets.

There are weeds everywhere.

There was also free-growing hemp - no one needs it here.

This house probably housed the village council. Or maybe just a club or a general store.

And these people had a large farm.

I even remembered my father’s parents’ house. The Gomel region is very close, and the traditional rural life there and here was practically no different.

Even the layout is similar. How many more years will this house stand?

It’s unlikely that these cobs will hang for as long as these cobs are already hanging, where the swallow managed to build a nest.

Walking along the street of a dead village, you can suddenly come across a courtyard where there are no weeds, no black windows in the house, and everything indicates that someone lives here. These are the farms of people who have been given the name “self-settlers” - local residents who did not want to leave their homes, despite the radiation. Some of them don't like this name - “What kind of ‘self-settlers’ are we, who lived here in peace?” The isolated nature of life on Chernobyl soil led to the fact that these people turned into a special cultural group. Due to the tragedy suffered, difficult living conditions, little connection with big world people here are somehow kinder.

There are various reasons why they decided to return. Someone couldn't imagine life without native land, and returned immediately after the evacuation of rural areas on May 4 and 5, 1986, bypassing cordons and police posts. Others returned later, mainly for socio-economic reasons. At its peak, the number of self-settlers reached more than two thousand people (before the accident, about one hundred thousand lived on the resettled lands), but at the time of writing this story (autumn 2008) there were about three hundred of them left. After all, these are elderly people, and radiation, as we know, does not contribute to health and longevity. Many people develop cancer.

To be honest, I had some vague doubts about the ethics of such a visit to self-settlers. It was painfully reminiscent of a trip to the zoo - what else can you call it, when a crowd armed with photographic equipment walks around the property with interest, photographing you and your simple belongings, as if it were some kind of alien exotica. But in most cases, the self-settlers had nothing against it - our visit at least somehow diluted their monotonous, difficult and isolated life, and they were happy with the products brought.

Grandma Olga was the first one we went to visit (next to her is Alexander Sirota (Planca), editor-in-chief site Pripyat.com). Exposure dose in a village with interesting name Lubyanka was 60 microroentgen per hour.

Her farm, like other farms of self-settlers, consisted of several households at once. Since the neighbors would never return, their abandoned property and buildings could be used at their own discretion. Only houses are unclaimed - a person cannot live in several at once.

Otherwise, it was no different from an ordinary village - a large vegetable garden, potatoes, and even a cow and calf.

The barn was fortified to the best of Grandma Olga’s ability to protect against wolves, who felt like masters here. “The dog was taken for a fee”- the village woman complained.

After milking the cow, the woman offered us a drink fresh milk. Everyone began to politely refuse, citing either dairy intolerance or stomach upset. I didn’t refuse, and drank the mug with pleasure (if someone who captured this moment is reading this story, I will be grateful if you send a photo to). The guy in the photo followed my example.

House decoration.

After thanking the hostess for her hospitality and wishing her health, we headed to the bus. A little behind the others, we met another old woman who quickly approached us and began to talk about the hardships of her life. It would have been impolite not to listen to her, but in this case we risked getting scolded by the guides for breaking away from the group. In the end, we had to tell grandma that there was absolutely no way we could give her a little more time, and then we hurriedly went to catch up with our people.

The next stop was the large village of Ilyintsy, where about one and a half thousand residents lived before the accident, and now only thirty remain. And although everyone lives in different parts of the village, people meet more often.

But everything indicates that the village is abandoned. All the same abandoned houses, which are no longer even accessible.

Overgrown streets again.

An old apple tree covered with small dry branches (because no one trims it).

A Lancer suddenly drove down the street - apparently, some of the self-settlers were being visited by relatives (obtaining a car pass to the Zone is a rather tedious task, at a minimum, you need to give sufficient justification for this. The presence of relatives among the self-settlers seems to be such. The pass is issued to a specific car, and, of course, it does not at all give the opportunity to drive anywhere, it is no longer suitable for the “ten”, and one should not forget that any routes and periods of stay in the Zone must still be previously agreed upon with the authorities).

Since the population of the contaminated territories was subject to unconditional resettlement, at first self-settlements were illegal, and attempts were made to bring them back to no avail. But gradually it became clear that they were not going to leave anywhere, and the state gave up, accepting the fact that they were living in a restricted area. Now they even have their own passes. They are examined annually by doctors; in every village where there are still people left, there is electricity and a radio station, through which, if something happens, you can send a signal for help.

Once a week they bring food here (in the photo - a closed village shop), and once a month - mail and pensions (care for the population is still much better than in some forgotten village in the Russian outback).

We again split into groups to visit a few more self-settlers. I again went in the group of Sergei from the Ministry of Emergency Situations (pictured on the right), a cool and colorful Ukrainian guy, who took us to his old friend (on the left, unfortunately, I forgot his name). Hearing that I spoke Belarusian, he expressed regret that Ukraine is not ruled by Lukashenko, “Because Lukashenko is doing well”.

A man's hand was felt in his household.

The hosts put a treat on the table, which no one refused - it was the other half of the day, and the dosimeters were not giving such frightening indicators.

After a strong vodka, everyone experienced a sharp rise in mood.

When we returned to the bus, everyone was already waiting for us (as it turned out, not everyone received the same warm welcome. The self-settler did not allow Alexander Sirota’s group to enter the doorway, saying that “they should have come earlier”). The guy in camouflage pants on the left is Anton “moloch” Yukhimenko, creative designer and photographer for the Pripyat.com project.

But more often, local residents welcome visits from the Japanese and other aliens.

The last stop was the bridge over the Pripyat River, built after the accident.

If you look north from it, you can see the outlines of the Station in the haze. And on the other side, the city of Chernobyl and its private sector overgrown with forest are clearly visible.

After arriving from a trip to the zone, you must go through radiation control twice - first at Chernobylinform, and then at the checkpoint when leaving. In the second case, it resembles something between an airport scanner and a subway entrance. There are several booths in a row, and it is impossible to get out without passing them. The man stands in the booth and puts his hands on the iron handles. If the activity on it is within normal limits, the turnstile opens and lets you out to “ mainland" Otherwise, decontamination is required.

Despite only two days of being in the Zone, when leaving it you experience some kind of slight shock. And from the feeling that you are now free to go wherever you want, and from the sight of all these people and cars scurrying around, the ubiquitous signs and lanterns, houses inhabited by someone. It’s as if you just had a strange dream, and now you’re awake, and you can’t understand what all the fuss is going on around you. The exclusion zone is really some other dimension, deserted and strange, where even the people, if you manage to meet them, are different. The land of hundreds of thousands of curies occupies thoughts and beckons back.

Frequently Asked Questions

I also want to go to the Zone. How to do this?
To enter the Zone legally, it is best to book a tour.

I want to see places where excursions do not take people (the military town of Chernobyl-2, the abandoned Yanov railway station, etc.)
Book an individual tour (expensive!) or...

Is it possible to get into the zone on your own?
Yes, you can, but at your own peril and risk. You will need a good one physical fitness and backpacking equipment (backpacks, tents, provisions, navigators, clothing and shoes for traveling over rough terrain). And remember that the Zone is a sensitive facility, and by entering there, you are breaking the law and may be held accountable (for penetration - large fines, for attempting to remove “artifacts” - up to 3 years in prison); that many places in the zone are heavily contaminated and staying there for a long time is dangerous to health; and, finally, that he is walking freely around the zone large number wild animals dangerous to humans, such as wolves and wild boars.

Photographer Alexander Stepanenko:

– In the summer of 2015, our village was buried - the homeland of my parents, grandfathers and great-grandfathers, who lived there since the 18th century (according to the Historical Archive of the Republic of Belarus). The village of Kiselevka (Mogilev region, Kostyukovichi district), located between three cemeteries, itself became a huge cemetery.

Artem Chernov, Front.Photo:

– This unique 36-year-long photo project is about the life of a village covered radiation cloud Chernobyl accident in 1986 - this is the second amazing material Alexandra Stepanenko, published in Front.Photo. The first was the third-century photo chronicle “Everyday Life in an Arkhangelsk Village,” which received rave reviews.

The author’s experience is impressive: he managed to document the life of Russian and Belarusian villages for decades, and from a minimal distance, not with the camera of a visiting correspondent, but through the eyes of “his own,” loved one, "insider". In Russian photography, in my opinion, no one else has managed this in our time. In the case of Kiselevka, the magic is absolutely fantastic - the first (and beautiful!) shots of the project were filmed years before the disaster, there is still “that” life there. Alexander was only 15 years old in 1979.

The authorities made their first attempts to resettle the village back in 1992; most of the residents had already moved to a safer place, to new houses. However, five large families and several more people remained in the village for for many years, of their own free will, contrary to regulations. Only in 2015 was the decision implemented complete elimination villages, burying houses and relocating everyone to a new village. And in the “half-living village of Viduitsy” neighboring Kiselevka, local residents are officially allowed to move in again.

Alexander Stepanenko,

– These photographs show residents of my native Belarusian village, in the Mogilev region. My parents were born and raised here, and we ran around as barefoot boys, herded horses, and caught crayfish in the river. I can’t forget the smell of cut grass, the taste of fresh milk... After the Chernobyl accident, in 1990, I returned to my native Kiselevka. Nothing has changed in village life: they give birth to children, plow fields, and in the evening young people have fun around the fire. But behind the vegetable gardens signs appeared: “Radioactivity. Danger zone!

1979-1982

"Village Boyfriend" Evening gatherings. 1981.

"Household chores." Isaeva Nadezhda and Silkina Khristina Lukyanovna. 1981.

"Kiss for three." Besed River. 1979.

– My childhood was spent in the village of Kiselevka, on the banks of the Chernoutka River, which flowed into the Besed River outside the outskirts. And after crossing the Besed, you could run to the Holy Lake - mysterious place, with which many local legends are associated. Is it worth explaining that we learned to walk, swim and fish almost simultaneously. And when the flood began, and Besed, having covered the flood meadow with its waters, carried the remnants of ice, we rode on the ice floes, feeling like travelers. They fell into the water, made fires under ancient oak trees at the edge of the forest, dried off and slowly walked home. Because they knew that their father was waiting at home with a belt...

"By the nettles." Nadya Stepanenko and Nina Antonenko. 1980.

"The breadwinner is back." Bay Vladimir and Valentina. 1981.

"On the rubble." Silkins Maria, Semyon, Galina and Chepikov Anatoly. 1981.

Memories. Vladimir Nikolaevich Gnedoy (53 years old):

– ...Then spring came, and this is sowing time. There was enough work for everyone: both old and young. During the day you work on a horse, and in the evening you jump on it and gallop into the meadow, your heart already trembling with delight. They had to work a lot and hard, but people knew how to relax. Dancing in a club or near a club - until one in the morning, and at five - to work. There was enough strength and enthusiasm for everything.

"At the threshold." Myakenkaya Anastasia Stefanovna. 1981.

“We talked like men.” Shornikov Sasha and Vitya. 1981.

"Bread Day" Near the store. 1981.

"There will be a storm." 1982.

"Crazy ones." Melnikov Sveta and Slavik. 1981.

Alexander Stepanenko,

"Father's house." Stepanenko Vasya, Polina Timofeevna and Nadya. 1982.

“I can’t carry my own burden.” Chepikovs Elena and Efrosinya Semyonovna carry straw. 1982.

1990

Maria Syaseva installs a prohibitory sign. 1990.

In 1992, the bulk of the village residents were relocated to Novye Samotevichi, where brick houses were built. For young people this is a plus, it’s almost the city of Kostyukovichi, a regional center. But some of the residents did not leave.

"Granny's Helper" At the pump, a girl carries a bucket of water. 1990.

– After the Chernobyl accident in 1986, many areas of the Mogilev region were “contaminated”. But the scale of the tragedy was not yet known. In the first years, for living in the contaminated area, each resident was paid “coffin” - a tangible increase in the family budget. In 1987, I measured the radiation level in Kiselevka: near the house (under the roof drainage) it was 170 microroentgens/hour, and on the shore of a small lake it showed 800 microroentgens/hour. According to village residents, at the end of April 1986, everything was covered with a brown coating. The children were taken out for a recreational holiday. My two nieces were vacationing abroad: Anya in Spain, Lena in Germany. And the village continued to live everyday life.

"Spring has come." Chepikov Petr and Prokhorenko Tatyana. 1990.

"It's all in the past." Silkin Vladimir Terentievich. 1990.

Memories. Mikhail Lukich Ignatenko (65 years old):

– In 1991, the President of the USSR came to Samotevichi (three kilometers from us) Mikhail Gorbachev. While performing at the club, he admired the beauty of the local nature. But already in 1992, mass resettlement of people began. The last residents of Kiselevka were forced to move in 2014, to the village of Novye Samotevichi, built 25 km from Kiselevka.

"The Way Home" Sofia Kireevna Sidorenko. 1990.

"For new harvest" The Chepikov family and Maria Kruzhaeva. 1990.

On poisoned ground." 1990.

Memories. Vladimir Nikolaevich Gnedoy (53 years old):

– At the end of April 1986, I came to my native village from Leningrad to help my mother sow a vegetable garden. Early in the morning I got off the regular bus: Hello, Motherland! Everything is fine: the sun is shining, the grass is green, but something is not as usual. And just approaching home, I realized that the birds were not singing and my throat was somehow sore. Didn't give it any credit special significance, and who at 23 years old pays attention to this. But, after talking with my mother and going to the local store (all the news is there), I realized that trouble had arrived: neighboring villages were being urgently evicted and covered with earth. The same fate awaited Kiselevka, but here all this happened much later, in 2015...

"Our roots." Chepikov Victor, Myakenkiye Victor, Nina and Elena. 1990.

"Sowing" Stepanenko Viktor Prokofievich. 1990.

"Trouble has arrived." 1990.

"Radioactive milk" On a collective farm. 1990.

"Self-medication." Vladimir Silkin, Romanenko Nikolay and Lakhtikov Petr. 1990.

"Broken Lives" 1990.

2000

“We will live!” The last residents of our Kiselyovka. 2000.

Memories. Vladimir Nikolaevich Gnedoy (53 years old):

– In May 2016, having received passes to the exclusion zone in Kostyukovichi, my friends and I went to our native Kiselevka. The well-kept villages and fields stand in stark contrast to the rest of the exclusion zone. My memory suggests the names of the villages where my classmates lived. A riot of greenery, an abundance of birds and animals. Life goes on, but you are a stranger here...

"Hard times." Chepikov Vladimir Seliverstovich. 2000.

“How many roads have been traveled.” Bay Polina Fedorovna. 2000.

"Hostages of the peaceful atom." Soft Julia and Olya. 2000.

"Farewell to home." 2000.

Memories. Vladimir Nikolaevich Gnedoy (53 years old):

“After visiting the graves of our relatives, we walked around the entire village. It is difficult to describe in words all the bitterness and horror of what happened: people left these beautiful places, their houses were buried. And only by little things familiar from childhood do you hardly recognize where and who is here lived before. The roads have turned into paths, the trees hang over you, shaking with overgrown branches. The silence pressing on your ears is broken by the singing of birds, and you understand that this is the end of the history of the village, which is almost 300 years old. And all we can do is sometimes come to the graves of our ancestors, admire nature and again remember everything that is dear to our hearts.

2015