In the meantime, looting from inside the zone had begun on an industrial scale, often initiated by the liquidators themselves and sometimes with the collusion of their commanders. One night, radiation reconnaissance officer Alexander Logachev watched in amazement as a renegade group of soldiers loaded one truck after another with gas stoves and building supplies taken from a heavily radioactive construction warehouse, in the shadow of the plant. “Guys, are you fucking crazy?” he asked, but they carried on regardless, and, by dawn, two massive Antonov 22 heavy lift transport aircraft were on
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