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Victims Of Nuclear Tests And Disasters Commemorated In Russia

The first Soviet nuclear test in August 1949

August 28, 2009

VORONEZH -- Victims of nuclear tests and accidents were commemorated in Russia's Voronezh on the eve of the 60th anniversary of the first Soviet nuclear test, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports.

Veterans of the Soviet nuclear tests program gathered near the Memorial to the Victims of Radiation in Voronezh on August 28 to remind local authorities about the problems they are facing.

According to the regional organization of veterans and invalids, about 1,500 nuclear test veterans and members of their families who suffered from radiation are living in the Voronezh Oblast currently.

On August 29, 1949, the first Soviet nuclear test was conducted in the Semipalatinsk nuclear test field in Kazakhstan, then known as the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic.