Pertsov: Belarus spent more than $19 billion to mitigate the aftermath of the Chernobyl accident

Liquidation of the Chernobyl accident consequences is a colossal work, which is carried out in Belarus. This was stated to journalists by Deputy Head of the Executive Office of the President Vladimir Pertsov. Today, on the International Day of Remembrance of the Chernobyl disaster, he took part in the ceremony of laying baskets with flowers at the memorial signs "Ahvjaram Charnobyl" and "Hiroshima Peace Stone" in the Park of Friendship of Peoples in Minsk, reports BelTA.

"We remember and honor. Every time on this mournful date we recall the losses that our country suffered, the consequences that it still feels from the accident that happened not on the territory of the Republic of Belarus - at that time the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic. But as you know, it was our country that suffered the greatest damage and the biggest losses. After all, about 20% of cultivated areas, about a quarter of forest lands, almost 2 million people from 3.5 thousand settlements suffered to a greater or lesser extent from the invisible terrible threat that radiation carried with it, - said Vladimir Pertsov. - And our country is successfully overcoming these consequences even now, allocating 3% of the state budget for this purpose".