Jul 22, 2021 19:00:00

Experiences of trespassing on Chernobyl are now available

The area affected by the

Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident in 1986, commonly known as the 'zone,' has become a popular tourist attraction in recent years. Even in such a zone, the area with a radius of 30 km from the nuclear power plant has been an exclusion zone since the accident, but some local guides who guide tourists take an 'illegal tour' to illegally invade this exclusion zone. Some people do it. Photographer and writer Alam Barakjan, who participated in such an illegal tour, spelled out the experience of walking around the danger zone of Chernobyl.

Into the Zone: 4 days inside Chernobyl's secretive'stalker' subculture — The Calvert Journal
https://www.calvertjournal.com/features/show/10946/into-the-zone-4-days-inside-chernobyls-secretive-stalker-subculture

Barakjan decided to enter the zone because he was inspired by a movie based on the Russian novel 'Stalker'.

Four tourists, including Barakjan, and guide Kirill Stepanets first headed to a small abandoned village in the zone. After passing through a police checkpoint in a van driven by Mr. Stepanets, the party went through a forest road at night into the zone.

The abandoned villages that have been abandoned for more than 30 years are all decaying and collapsing buildings, although there is no radioactive contamination. The party, who recovered the supplies and food hidden by other guides there, spent the night there.

The next day, Barakjan and his colleagues headed for Pripyat , located 4 km from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, and broke into a forest zone called the 'dead zone.' Despite being called the 'dead zone,' the forest was a lush land full of creatures such as wild boars, deer, and various insects.

Along the way, they were about to be discovered by a group of suspected illegal workers, and they encountered a scene where a duo dressed in white protective clothing was burying something, but the party arrived safely at Pripyat.

Barakujan, who climbed to the tallest building in Pripyat covers the decommissioning

sarcophagus and, I saw the lightning, such as if it had been dropped from heaven on him sarcophagus.

Mr. Stepanets, who served as a guide, has been guiding trespassing into the zone more than 100 times since he first entered the zone at the age of 21.

Born and raised in the turmoil of Ukraine four years after the nuclear accident and a year before the collapse of the Soviet Union, Barakjan said, 'Ukrainians invade the zone in search of

catharsis. I think it's natural in a way. By occupying the zone, they face the trauma of the Ukrainians. The zone is a museum, a nature reserve, a turbulent era. It is also a refuge from Ukraine. Living inconveniently in the zone is also an antithesis to living in an unstable country. '

Barakjan also described the experience he spent in the zone for several days: 'Traveling into the zone provides important historical insights not available on safe official tours, but with risks. The pure experience of being exposed to survival was also an unexpected meditative escape. '