Many nuclear proliferation experts believe resuming testing by either nuclear superpower more than 30 years after the last test is unlikely soon.
"I remember I was about five years old," said Baglan Gabullin, a resident of Kaynar, another village that lived under the shadow of nuclear testing.
[1/5]A view shows a model of a nuclear test at the museum of the Semipalatinsk Test Site, one of the main locations for nuclear testing in the Soviet Union, in the town of Kurchatov in the Abai Region, Kazakhstan November 7, 2023.
Gabullin, speaking near a small monument to victims of nuclear tests erected in Kaynar, also said losses were common.
While villages such as Kaynar and Saryzhal were exposed to direct radiation, steppe winds carried nuclear fallout across an area the size of Italy.
Persons:
Putin, Vladimir Putin, Serikbay Ybyrai, Baglan Gabullin, Pavel Mikheyev, Gulsum Mukanova, Mukanova, Alicia Sanders, Olzhas, Gloria Dickie, Olzhas Auyezov, Mike Collett, White
Organizations:
Soviet, REUTERS, International, Nuclear, Reuters, Timothy Heritage, Thomson
Locations:
Kazakhstan, SARYZHAL, Russia, United States, Soviet, Semey, Kazakh, Russian, Ukraine, Moscow, Saryzhal, Kaynar, Soviet Union, Kurchatov, Abai Region, Italy, Novaya Zemlya, Russia's, Almaty, London