3. It Was All Western Propaganda
Of course, as time went on, other places around Europe started to question how serious the Chernobyl disaster was. Many people began to talk about the possibility of a dark radioactive cloud building above Europe. Once the cloud became large enough, it would create a melting pot within the area, and no one would be safe. When this news hit the Soviet leaders, they laughed at it and told the residents that it was all western propaganda.
The leaders continued to downplay the dangers of the no. 4 rector explosion by insisting that they understood everything that needed to get done and it was all under control. The leaders would tell people that they had their men on it and briefed these men on the type of work that needed to get done. Of course, people slowly started to realize that the leaders of the Soviet Union were not being honest with them and soon, no one believed anything that they had to say, especially Mikhail Gorbachev.