Chernobyl Haven Lures War-Worn Ukrainians to Dictatorship

You know things are bad in Ukraine when even people who risk radiation poisoning for a living decide the countrys too depressing to live in anymore.

For most of their adult lives, Andrey and Marina Komelkov were happy working in the Chernobyl Zone of Alienation because their jobs at the nuclear cleanup site paid well. But then the war with pro-Russian separatists started hundreds of miles to the east and they became convinced the countrys corruption-fed cycle of economic and political crises will never end.

So, determined to give their daughter a better life, they piled into their battered Russian-made minivan last month and moved to the dictatorship across the border: Belarus, said Andrey, 39. If the couple feels at home in their new village, thats because it was built, like their previous apartment in Ukraine, just outside the Chernobyl radiation zone to relocate residents of the region after the reactor meltdown in 1986.

We really like the stability in Belarus, Andrey said in an interview in Masty, 130 kilometers (80 miles) south of Belaruss capital Minsk and 300 kilometers north of the Ukrainian capital Kiev. Some people call President Lukashenko a dictator, but how would he manage people without being one? said Andrey, who was born in Russia and blames anti-government protesters in Kiev for unleashing the latest round of chaos.

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, center, gestures next to Russia's President Vladimir Putin, left, and Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko as they meet in Minsk on Aug. 26. Lukashenko, in power more than 20 years and shunned by the U.S. and the European Union, is seeking to position himself as regional peace broker to help end the worst standoff between Russia and its former Cold War foes in decades. Close

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, center, gestures next to Russia's President... Read More

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Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, center, gestures next to Russia's President Vladimir Putin, left, and Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko as they meet in Minsk on Aug. 26. Lukashenko, in power more than 20 years and shunned by the U.S. and the European Union, is seeking to position himself as regional peace broker to help end the worst standoff between Russia and its former Cold War foes in decades.

Lukashenko, in power more than 20 years and shunned by the U.S. and the European Union, is positioning himself as a peace broker to help end the worst standoff between Russia and its former Cold War foes in decades. Hes hosted talks between the belligerents in Ukraine twice this month, including the one in Minsk that led to a cease-fire on Sept. 5.

Officials in Belarus, a country of 9.5 million people, say more than 3,000 Ukrainians have arrived since Russian President Vladimir Putin annexed Crimea in March and Lukashenko, 60, said his brotherly arms are open to fellow Slavs seeking to escape the ensuing war. The conflict has claimed more than 3,500 lives and driven what the United Nations says is at least 615,000 people from their homes, about 340,000 of whom have fled the country, mostly to nearby Russia.

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Chernobyl Haven Lures War-Worn Ukrainians to Dictatorship