TOLYATTI, Russia -- A group of veterans of the 1986 Chornobyl nuclear disaster filed a compensation lawsuit today against Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports.
Sixty members of the nongovernmental organization Union Chornobyl, which is based in the southwestern city of Tolyatti, filed the suit with a Stavropol Oblast court. Members told RFE/RL the lawsuit is also against the federal government, the Finance Ministry, and the Health and Social Development Ministry.
Union Chornobyl Chairman Nikolai Petrukhin told RFE/RL that the lawsuit aims to force a revision of local court decisions in Samara Oblast that he said have deprived Chornobyl veterans of social allowances and compensation to which they are entitled.
Many of the thousands of workers sent from many different parts of Russia to clean up after the Chornobyl accident have serious illnesses and are disabled or unable to work.
Sixty members of the nongovernmental organization Union Chornobyl, which is based in the southwestern city of Tolyatti, filed the suit with a Stavropol Oblast court. Members told RFE/RL the lawsuit is also against the federal government, the Finance Ministry, and the Health and Social Development Ministry.
Union Chornobyl Chairman Nikolai Petrukhin told RFE/RL that the lawsuit aims to force a revision of local court decisions in Samara Oblast that he said have deprived Chornobyl veterans of social allowances and compensation to which they are entitled.
Many of the thousands of workers sent from many different parts of Russia to clean up after the Chornobyl accident have serious illnesses and are disabled or unable to work.
