Meanwhile, the radioactive cloud had continued north and spread west to envelop all of Scandinavia—before the weather stagnated and the contamination drifted south over Poland, forming a wedge that moved down into Germany. Heavy rain then deposited a dense band of radiation that reached all the way from Czechoslovakia into southeastern France. The West German and Swedish governments lodged furious complaints with Moscow over its failure to promptly notify them of the accident and requested more information about what had happened, but to no avail.
