Balgarianovinite.com Bulgaria learnt about the April 26, 1986 accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant two days after the fact. At 9:20 p.m. local time on April 28, BTA published the following brief news item from the Soviet TASS news agency in its International News Desk bulletin:
“Moscow, April 28 (TASS). An accident has occurred at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. One of the atomic reactors has been damaged. Measures are being taken to liquidate the consequences of the accident. Those affected are being given aid. A government commission has been formed.”
On April 29, in the same non-confidential bulletin the Agency relayed a more detailed TASS report that quoted the USSR Council of Ministers as admitting that “there has been a certain release of radioactive substances” but insisting that “the radiation situation in the power plant and its environs is now stabilized” and “is constantly monitored”.
On the same date, BTA’s S-2B Special Confidential Supplement Bulletin said that, according to Western news, “Western experts are unanimous that the accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant probably caused the death of many people”.
The radiation cloud from Chernobyl reached Bulgaria on May 1. On that date, BTA’s Home News Desk Bulletin reported briefly that background radiation levels in the country were normal. It added that “monitoring continues to be performed regularly” without giving a reason.
Also on May 1, the S-2 Confidential Supplement carried a huge wire-service news feed tracking the cloud on its way across Europe at large and in the Balkans in particular. On the same date, Vladimir Kostov commented on the Bulgarian Service of Radio Free Europe (transcribed in BTA’s confidential bulletin titled Foreign Propaganda against Bulgaria) that the Bulgarian mass media have not provided any locally sourced information about radiation levels in the country and any precautionary advice. “A rudimentary sense of responsibility for the fate of every citizen is clearly completely foreign to the Bulgarian leadership. It takes care not to deviate in any way from the line of Soviet propaganda,” Kostov observed.
News about the disaster was blacked out throughout the Eastern bloc, but the censorship was particularly severe in Bulgaria.
Yet another reassuring announcement was made public on May 3, saying that radiation levels were safe for the population and the environment.
A castigating comment came from Vladimir Kostov on Radio Free Europe (May 4): “The Bulgarian [Communist] party and State leadership obviously refuses to admit that a nuclear disaster has occurred at the Soviet power plant near the city of Chernobyl. [. . .] The Bulgarian party and state leadership authorized the publication of only the truncated Soviet communiqués on the matter and ordered the media to remain silent about everything that was being written, commented on, and discussed in the international press, as well as by government officials and scientists in all civilized countries. [. . .] The Bulgarian media did not inform the Bulgarian public about the measures taken in Poland, Romania, Yugoslavia, Austria, Sweden, and West Germany to protect the population from potential consequences. [. . .] Perhaps, as is often the case with so many other important matters, such safety advice was given only to the activists, to those in positions of responsibility and, one might say, the more valuable comrades.”
While Agence France-Presse, Tanjug and Radio Athens, covered in BTA’s confidential bulletin, reported a radiation hazard in Bulgaria, the first announcement about abnormal levels in this country appeared in the Home News Desk Bulletin as late as on May 5. Here is the original English-language version of this item, as published by the BTA External Service:
“BTA 109 ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE COMMITTEE FOR THE PEACEFUL USES OF NUCLEAR ENERGY
Sofia, May 5 (BTA) — The Committee for the Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy with the Council of Ministers announces:
Readings of the radiation level continue to be taken regularly. The network of measuring points has been reinforced and expanded, and it provides continuous information about the entire territory of the country.
In most counties there are no deviations from the normal average radiation levels, which range from 0.015 to 0.025 milliroentgens per hour for this country.
Radiation levels up to three times higher than normal have been measured in certain counties, but this increase is not dangerous for the population. Radiation is already dropping in the points where the increases have been observed.
All water sources in the country have been checked for radiation, and the water in them has yielding normal readings.
The overall radiation level indicates that public health is not endangered. – 0 -”
Meanwhile, Denmark, West Germany, Austria and later on the entire European Economic Community banned the import of animals, fish, dairy products, milk and fresh fruits and vegetables from countries within 1,000 km from Chernobyl, including Bulgaria. Again, news of these developments can only be found in BTA’s confidential bulletins. To make up for it, on May 14 the Home News Desk bulletin reported a “strong protest” voiced by Bulgaria’s government against the EEC decision.
On May 7, Prof. Lyubomir Shindarov, First Deputy Minister of Public Health and Chief Health Inspector, appeared on National Television and said that “systematic monitoring has shown so far lowering radiation levels and that there is a tendency towards their normalization” and that “no threat at all was posed to public health. Nobody in Bulgaria was exposed to significant doses of radiation, and the slightly increased levels, all the more only in separate areas, do not endanger the health of children, mothers, pregnant women or elderly people.” (BTA External Service 112, May 7, 1986).
As late as May 18, a non-confidential announcement from the Standing Governmental Commission on Combating Natural Disasters and Large Industrial Accidents admitted that background radiation in the country had started to increase above its natural level on May 2 but added that it has now decreased to nearly the normal level. The Commission reported that the consumption of early leaf vegetables had been temporarily banned as a preventive measure but stressed that cow’s milk, meat, meat preparations, butter, eggs, fish and water were safe to use, as was ambient air and seawater. “All tests show that the situation is normalizing. There is no cause for concern and any measures other than the recommended ones are unnecessary,” the announcement said.
Nevertheless, all precautions were lifted by the Standing Commission less than a week later, on May 23:
“The regular monitoring and analyses of the radiological situation show that background radiation in the country has returned to its normal levels.
Therefore, the restrictions which have been imposed are hereby cancelled.
The special readings taken of the sea water and along the coast, including recreation facilities, holiday houses and children’s camps, indicate that they are uncontaminated and can be used without restrictions.” (BTA External Service 107, May 23, 1986)
What Really Happened
In reality, the Chernobyl accident produced severe radiation and health effects in Bulgaria. In 2006 the International Atomic Energy Agency ranked Bulgaria eighth in Europe in terms of radiation contamination of its territory following Chernobyl. For its part, the UN Scientific Committee on the Study of the Effects of Atomic Radiation said that Bulgaria topped the rankings of infant thyroid dose equivalents and effective dose equivalents received by individuals (adults) during the first post-Chernobyl year. The higher average effective dose equivalent received by Bulgarians (despite relatively lower environmental contamination) was due to the absence and/or ineffectiveness of the protective measures taken by the authorities.
The exposure was aggravated by the festive demonstrations held under radioactive rain on May 1, despite a 10,000-fold increase of radioactive air pollution compared to the pre-Chernobyl levels. Work in the open air by pupils and students as Youth Brigade members during the summer, massive-scale “runs for health”, and children spending a couple of weeks at seaside camps had a similarly harmful effect.
To make things even worse, contaminated feed was given to livestock in Bulgaria, which resulted in a secondary surge of radiation in milk and meat in 1987.
The communist authorities deliberately kept the general public in the dark about the hazard and did not take adequate measures for radiation protection because such measures would have cost them the loss of certain economic privileges and they wanted to preserve their own political control unchallenged (by preventing panic and protests), says Prof. Dimitar Vatsov, who has spent years researching the aftermath of the disaster in this country. Another overriding consideration was to safeguard Soviet interests in downplaying the disaster, all the more so that Moscow had not deemed it necessary to inform Sofia through official channels. The Soviet Ambassador even chastised the Bulgarian leadership for “making too much fuss” about the issue.
In stark contrast to the lax, incomplete or even absent precautions for the population, very strict and urgent measures were taken to protect the most senior party functionaries: excluding contaminated food products and water from use for eating, drinking, washing and bathing, rigorous testing of all products, and importing clean food from Australia, Egypt and Israel. So Vladimir Kostov’s assumption about the “more valuable comrades” was proved right.
The only exception to the communist regime’s deliberate failure to protect ordinary Bulgarians from the Chernobyl radiation was then Defence Minister Dobri Djourov, who ordered strict testing of the food and water used for the armed forces and other measures to minimize their exposure. Notably, this order and related instructions were not at all classified, which made it possible to spread the real news about the situation to the general public, along with rumours and “enemy” radio station broadcasts.
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In 1990, Grigor Stoichkov, who was deputy prime minister and chairman of the State Governmental Commission in 1986, and Lyubomir Shindarov were charged with criminal negligence in connection with the Chernobyl cover-up. In 1992 the two were found guilty and sentenced to imprisonment: three years (Stoichkov) and two years (Shindarov). On appeal, Stoichkov’s sentence was reduced to two years, while Shindarov’s was commuted to two years’ conditional and four years’ probation. Post-Chernobyl Bulgaria 40 Years Ago: Cover-Up for Most, Precautions for Chosen Few 2026 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-04-26 15:41:16 Latest news World news Country news Most important news latest news most important latest of the day Justice Petar Nizamov Feathers Petar Nizamov- Feathers Justice bg iustitia.bg iustitia iusticia usticia investigation Burgas Bulgaria news news of the last hour news of the day news of today Bulgaria news The news from Bulgaria blitz news top news most important most commented latest news Boyko Borisov news weather coronavirus news news weather facebook youtube facebook instagram news today news of the last minutes news today today news news bg news leading news hot news bg news site for news all news news bg news of the last hour latest latest news bg news of today news today news today news of the last hour latest news today news bg news news 24 hours news vesti bg novini news world bird bg bivol bg bivol trud bg novini latest news today novinite bg news hello bulgaria political party coat of arms delyan peevski scandalous Bulgarian National Television Free Europe Television scandal exclusive live tv live right now tv tv online tv program bg live now tv news online tv online live court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas district court Burgas appellate court Burgas prosecutor Burgas prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev Prosecutor Geshev Tsatsarov Ministry of Internal Affairs Burgas ODMR Burgas ODPR Burgas police Burgas district police Burgas prosecutor Tsatsarov SGS cases Varna court chairman of the SGS court decisions on civil cases decisions on cases Plovdiv court decision of the court decisions cases Varna court criminal cases district district court decisions work in the court SGS chairman of the SGS judges Sofia court post judges Plovdiv court Plovdiv judges Plovdiv Supreme Court Inspectorate Supreme Court Supreme Judicial Council lawyer lawyer criminal cases lawyer civil cases lawyer marriage cases lawyer administrative criminal law criminal process civil law civil process administrative law constitutional law