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With the show now the highest ever rated on IMDB, it is clear that the harrowing drama is having both a significant and educational effect on viewers globally. The show is a hit in Russia as well as the West – even Mikhail Gorbachev, who was General Secretary of the Soviet Union at the time – has expressed a desire to tune in. Soviet officials were blamed for mismanagement of the 1986 disaster and it is a mark of shame for the nation, even today.


With that in mind, it is no surprise that the popular show is not being well received by Russian media. The HBO show, which highlights the mistakes and cover-up by Soviet officials before and after the tragedy, has drawn the ire of popular Russian media. Stanislav Natanzon, lead anchor of Russia 24, said: “The only things missing are the bears and accordions!”

The disaster destroyed the plant in Ukraine

Meanwhile, Komsomolskaya Pravda, Russia’s most popular newspaper, accused Western competitors of state-run nuclear centre Rosatom of using the medium to damage the country’s image. Now, Russian channel NTV is making their own version of the show – with a twist. Film director Alexei Muradov will include a CIA agent who infiltrates the reactor to cause the explosion.


He added: “One theory holds that Americans had infiltrated the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and many historians do not deny that, on the day of the explosion, an agent of the enemy’s intelligence services was present at the station.” American civil engineer Philip Grossman explored this theory in a 2017 documentary. He suggested that indeed, the CIA could have infiltrated the plant as they knew it had military capability.

Citizens were tested for radiation after

Other Western shows, like MacGyver, had episodes set in Chernobyl