Bolshoi Theater in different architectural styles. Muse of dance Terpsichore

Russia fully paid the US indemnity for losing the Cold War

Almost no Russian media paid attention to the event that occurred at the end of last week. The merchant ship Atlantic Navigator set off from the port of St. Petersburg on a voyage across the Atlantic. On board the vessel are containers with Russian uranium.

“Gore-Chernomyrdin deal”: the true goals of our American “partners”

It was the last shipment of uranium to be sent to the United States under a 20-year-old Russian-American agreement that provided for the delivery to America of 500 metric tons of uranium, which Russia had pledged to recover from its nuclear facilities and which America intended to use as fuel to operate nuclear power plants.

This uranium deal was discussed quite actively in the 1990s, but today this topic has found itself “behind the scenes” of discussions of the key problems of our life. But the younger generation simply hadn’t heard anything about it. Therefore, we need to remind her. Let me note right away that this is not an ordinary trade and economic transaction that is beneficial for both parties. This is the act of the largest robbery of Russia not only in its recent history, but also in the entire history of the country. Russia lost cold war The West, especially the United States. It lost in no small part due to the treacherous policies of our leaders. These same elites continued to surrender the country in the 1990s. The “Uranium Deal” is the agreement of our treacherous elite to pay tribute to the winner in the form of weapons-grade uranium. An agreement in principle on this was reached between the then Prime Minister of the Russian Federation V.S. Chernomyrdin and US Vice President A. Gore, which is why this deal is often called the Gore-Chernomyrdin deal. It is also called the “scam of the millennium” due to its unprecedented scale. In fact, it was a Western operation that solved several strategic goals at once:

a) unilateral nuclear disarmament of Russia by depriving it of weapons-grade uranium reserves, as well as preparing conditions for the US withdrawal from the ABM Treaty;

b) causing enormous economic damage to Russia (the accumulated stock of weapons-grade plutonium constituted a significant part of Russia’s national wealth at that time);

c) depriving Russia of colossal energy sources in the future after the planned implementation new technology thorium nuclear energy.

The scale of the Russian robbery

The deal was dubbed the “Scam of the Millennium” because, firstly, it was on an enormous scale, and secondly, it was concluded fraudulently. Much of the Russian and American media sought to portray it as a run-of-the-mill commercial deal. The total amount of the transaction for the supply of 500 tons of uranium was determined at $11.9 billion. Meanwhile, the cost of the specified volume of highly enriched uranium is incomparably higher. To produce such a volume of weapons-grade uranium, the mining and defense industry several hundred thousand people worked in the country for about 40 years. The production is dangerous, tens of thousands of people have lost their health and ability to work, and their lives have been shortened. These were enormous sacrifices in order to forge the country’s nuclear shield and ensure a calm peaceful life USSR and countries socialist camp. This uranium ensured military-strategic parity in the world, which sharply reduced the risk of a world war. On the other hand, in American media there are such estimates: due to Russian uranium already at the beginning this century US nuclear power plants produced 50% of the electricity. Every tenth kilowatt-hour of electricity in the entire American economy was supplied by uranium from Russia. According to estimates made by experts at the end of the last century, the real cost of 500 tons of weapons-grade plutonium at that time was at least $8 trillion. For comparison, we note that the average annual value of Russia’s annual GDP, according to Rosstat, is last decade last century was in the region of 400 billion dollars. It turns out that the actual price of the uranium transaction was only 0.15% in relation to the minimum real cost of the goods. The real cost of uranium turned out to be equivalent to 20 (twenty) annual GDP of the country!

There have been many wars in human history. After them, the vanquished often paid reparations and indemnities to the victors. Let us recall, for example, the Franco-Prussian War of 1871. The “Iron Chancellor” Bismarck appointed an indemnity of approximately 13% of GDP (5 billion francs) to defeated France. Probably the largest contribution in modern history paid by Germany, defeated in the First World War. Media reports that Germany only finished paying reparations under the terms of the 1919 Paris Peace Treaty three years ago. Reparations of 269 billion gold marks were imposed on Germany. The amount is, of course, enormous: it is equivalent to approximately 100,000 tons of gold. At the current price of the yellow metal, it turns out to be about 4 trillion dollars. Experts in the field economic history claim that the reparations assigned to Germany in Paris were approximately twice the GDP of the then Germany. By the way, reparation payments by Germany lasted for 90 years (with interruptions, in pure form payments were made over approximately 70 years); the payment of “uranium reparations” by Russia was completed within 20 years, and most of uranium was supplied to the United States back in the 1990s.

It’s too early to put an end to history

The “uranium deal” was concluded in complete secret from the people. Even many of the “people’s representatives” were not aware - for the reason that, in violation Russian legislation, did not undergo the ratification procedure in our parliament. In the second half of the 1990s, a number of deputies began an investigation to clarify the terms of the deal, the circumstances of its conclusion, and assess compliance with the Constitution Russian Federation and other regulatory acts of Russia. As a result of strong pressure from certain influential forces from the circle of the then president of the country B.N. Yeltsin managed to stop the investigation. Many other politicians also tried to understand the deal, and even sought to denounce the agreement on uranium supplies to the United States. Among them, for example, legendary general L. Rokhlin, Prosecutor General Yu. Skuratov, State Duma deputy V. Ilyukhin. Many associate the death of Rokhlin and the resignation of Skuratov precisely with the fact that they showed excessive activity in the investigation of the “uranium deal.”

Even if uranium supplies under the Gore-Chernomyrdin deal have ended, this does not mean that history should be put to rest. It is necessary to return to a serious analysis and investigation of the transaction within the framework of a special interdepartmental commission with the participation of nuclear industry specialists, people's representatives (deputies of the State Duma), law enforcement officials, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defense, other departments and organizations, independent experts in technical, military, legal and economic issues.

Firstly, there are suspicions that whole line persons involved in that deal still remain in the circle of current politicians and government officials. There is no guarantee that they do not continue to work in the interests of the United States and the West.

Secondly, we need a correct and honest understanding of our recent history. Without a truthful disclosure of the details of the “uranium deal” and its political, military, moral assessment, there is no guarantee that we will not step on a similar rake again. An analysis of the true goals of the American side of the deal clearly highlights the true goals and interests of those whom we, unfortunately, by inertia continue to call “partners.”

Thirdly, we need substantiated and detailed assessments of the economic damage that the deal caused to Russia and its people. With any attempt by Russia to take the path of economic revival, the West will put a spoke in the wheels of our real reforms and socio-economic transformations. We must be prepared for the fact that the West will increasingly present us with various kinds of “bills” - for example, if we try to deoffshorize our economy. Through the courts of the USA, Great Britain and others European countries Inevitably, a showdown will begin on the part of the owners of offshore companies and/or their representatives with far-fetched demands for compensation for “damages.” Approximately the same reaction can be expected if Russia decides to withdraw from the WTO, limit foreign investment, or even limit the repatriation of profits of foreign investors from Russia. We must be prepared for the fact that there may be a need to issue counter “bills” to our Western “partners.” The largest of all possible counter “accounts” is our demands to the United States for compensation for the gigantic damage caused to Russia by the “uranium deal.”

SECRETS OF THE “URANIUM” DEAL

Starting to talk about the sale of Russian strategic reserves of weapons-grade uranium, which Rokhlin began studying, I involuntarily touch on a topic that has become life-threatening, if not fatal, for many. Someone got lost in the investigation and simply disappeared. Someone got into trouble and “suddenly committed” suicide. There was an attempt on someone's life. At first they intimidated, put a spoke in our wheels, and then tried to stage an accident with a fatal outcome. There are a lot of high-ranking officials who sounded the alarm and warned the state leadership about the criminal nature of pumping overseas virtually our entire arsenal of highly enriched uranium, extracted from nuclear weapons during perestroika. They turned to the Kremlin for clarification, but not a single clear answer was received. And there is also a version that Rokhlin was killed precisely because of the secrets shrouding the “uranium deal,” into which the general penetrated and decided to make them widely public.

However, if you do not take into account official version, associated with the general’s wife Tamara Rokhlina, then the deputy could have been killed out of revenge by the Chechens who did not forgive him for the capture of Grozny. They could have been shot by order of the military mafia, which he deprived of huge profits from the illegal sale of weapons to Armenia. The cause of death could also have been this ill-fated deal, which was signed by Al Gore and Viktor Chernomyrdin with the blessing of the two presidents. According to nuclear physicist Lev Maksimov, on the day of Lev Rokhlin’s murder they called him and threatened him: if you continue to investigate “like the dead Rokhlin,” your mouth will be closed forever. This was in the morning, when the general was still alive. “I also thought,” the scientist recalled, “that’s how scary they are. And at night Rokhlin was killed.”

Well, let's understand the factual material.

On February 18, 1993, the “Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the United States on the use of highly enriched uranium extracted from nuclear weapons” was signed. This document established the transfer to America of at least 500 tons of Russian weapons-grade uranium, allegedly for use as fuel for nuclear power plants. The corresponding basic contract dated August 25, 1993 for No. 261 was approved former prime minister V. Chernomyrdin. The bilateral agreement was not widely advertised, however, Russia pledged to supply these same “at least 500 tons” for 20 years, for which it was to receive 11 billion 900 million US dollars.

At first glance, there is nothing seditious here. Regular deal. If not for lost profits. As follows from materials declassified in the United States, having spent $3.9 trillion on the creation of nuclear weapons since 1945, the Americans were able to produce only 550 tons of weapons-grade uranium. Chernomyrdin, in agreement with Yeltsin, obliged our country to transfer overseas such an amount of nuclear fuel, which amounted to more than 90 percent of the strategic reserves of weapons-grade uranium previously produced in the United States itself. And not for the trillions of dollars that were previously spent, but only... for 11.9 billion dollars. As they say, feel the difference - it’s mere pennies compared to the real cost.

How much uranium will Russia be left with after the deal is completed? This information is no longer secret, it is publicly available in the media. mass media: V better times The production capacity for separating uranium isotopes in the USSR exceeded the American one by no more than 10 percent. Thus, it can be argued that as a result of the uranium deal, its organizers leave Russia with a stock of weapons-grade uranium that is significantly less than a tenth of the American strategic reserves.

Has this affected the security of our state? Judging by military reports, no. Thus, the head of the 12th Main Directorate of the RF Ministry of Defense, Colonel General E. Maslin, in an official letter (out. No. 448/16/2978 dated July 4, 1996) addressed to the head of armaments of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, Colonel General A. Sitnov, reported that in particular, the following: “The agreement between the governments of the Russian Federation and the United States is designed for 20 years and makes it possible to ensure during this time foreign exchange earnings to Russia in the amount of about 12 billion dollars with a total sale of about 500 tons in terms of highly enriched uranium, which constitutes an insignificant part of the state reserve ... Considering the above, the sale of low-enriched uranium obtained from highly enriched uranium at domestic enterprises does not affect the interests of Russia’s national security.”

Is it so? Experts directly assert that the uranium deal was conceived and began to be implemented as a disguised circumvention of the ratification of the START-2 Treaty. Thus, already in 1997, more than 400 tons of weapons-grade uranium were extracted from nuclear warheads. Taking into account the average weight of a warhead, this means that more than 25 thousand nuclear warheads have been dismantled in Russia. Thus, without ratifying the START-2 Treaty, and bypassing it, the organizers of the uranium deal actually ensured the fulfillment of the most important strategic tasks of the US and NATO leadership to accelerate the unilateral nuclear disarmament of Russia. This is a direct path to completely ignoring Russia in geopolitical plans and assigning it a third-rate role.

The press, experts and nuclear physicists began to draw such conclusions later, when, thanks to Lev Rokhlin, information began to come out. Before that, the curtain of secrecy was such that even the leadership of the Ministry of Defense, whose missiles were gutted in the most shameless manner, had no idea where their uranium was going. Army General Igor Rodionov, having become a State Duma deputy, once admitted:

How come I am the Minister of Defense! - and knew nothing about the uranium deal between Russia and the United States. The question is, who exactly, in what composition and how did all these agreements come into effect? There are four of them, but the texts of agreements No. 1 and No. 3 are missing. We still cannot find these documents. Apparently they are very well hidden. And for some reason, neither the Russian FSB, nor the Security Council, nor the Ministry of Defense can help us, State Duma deputies. I personally addressed three messages to President Putin (May 2004, January and March 2005). Putin did not answer me. But I wanted to explain to the president of the country that we may be dealing with high treason on a colossal scale. However, General Rokhlin also warned Yeltsin about this. But Rokhlin was killed...

There is information in the press that after Rokhlin’s murder, another deputy, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Security Committee Yuri Shchekochikhin, was actively looking for the “missing” texts of agreements No. 1 and No. 3. Allegedly, like the general in his time, he identified the persons involved and profited from this scam of the century. But the journalist was poisoned, and the secret of the investigation remained a secret.

It all started with Lev Maksimov, who was the first to see the criminal essence of the agreement and tried to stir up hype. Naive. Being and. About the director of the Novosibirsk Institute of Physical Problems of Metallurgy and Special Mechanical Engineering, he thought that the Kremlin businessmen would be afraid of publicity and recognize the agreement as invalid. In response, as he himself reports, all scientific developments that the research institute was engaged in were confiscated by “unknown persons”, and people with secret object, which the institute was, were expelled. They weren’t fired, they simply didn’t let anyone else through the checkpoint to work. Since then, persecution began against Maksimov. They “talked” with him, offered him laboratories abroad, threatened him, and did not allow him to engage in inventive and research activities. The intelligence services did not respond to the scientist’s complaints, preferring to simply remain silent.

That’s when Maksimov came to Moscow to see the Chairman of the State Duma Defense Committee Lev Rokhlin, who took the words of the nuclear physicist most seriously. Moreover, he began to check how the agreement is being implemented, who is participating in sales, what losses the state is incurring, where the money is transferred. He asked Yeltsin these questions in writing in November 1996, but received no answer.

The general, while conducting an investigation, quickly found understanding in the State Duma, and other deputies from different factions joined the study of the “uranium” deal. Including Doctor of Technical Sciences, nuclear physicist, who worked at Arzamas-16 for almost thirty years, Ivan Nikitchuk. They checked the information received from Maksimov and agreed that it was true. This means that a crime has been committed against Russia. Based on the inspection materials, already in 1997, closed and then open hearings were held in the State Duma. The meeting participants developed appropriate recommendations, and requests were sent to President Yeltsin, the Prosecutor General, and the Security Council demanding that the parliament provide appropriate clarifications.

Some colleagues laughed at the general, they say, he turned to Yeltsin and expected him to admit the Kremlin’s mistake, to involve the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Accounts Chamber in the work, and to give instructions to the government. No, of course, Rokhlin, as we have already seen, was never a simpleton and did not soar in the heavens. By sending requests to high authorities, he, first of all, made it clear that the crime of government officials was recorded by the parliamentary public and no one would be able to hush up this matter. At the same time, he continued to “dig” the topic, and, rest assured, he drew information not only from Maksimov’s words. On his side were people from the army and other special services, who saw in Rokhlin the last hope for restoring the rule of law in the country. He was helped by dozens of “closed sources”, often surrounded by Yeltsin, Chernomyrdin, and many officials involved in nuclear issues. A day before the murder, Rokhlin said the following in an interview with Express Gazeta: “I have enough documents to say that some officials from the presidential administration work for foreign intelligence. I am very close to making these documents public, but I don’t know yet how long it will take.”

He was not given time for this. And a few days after the general’s funeral, an attempt was made on Maksimov. The scientist received severe injuries, but miraculously survived. Years have passed and now the connection with Lev Maximov is lost. He no longer addresses the State Duma. I would like to hope that the nuclear scientist is alive and well.

Alexander Dmitrievich Kulikov, deputy of the State Duma, says:

In the State Duma of the second convocation, a Commission was created to verify the facts of corruption activities of higher officials states and constituent entities of the Russian Federation. She had very high powers and had the right to take a substantive interest in official activities members of the government, the presidential administration, heads of law enforcement agencies, governors... If we received information on signs of corrupt acts by officials, then this was already enough to begin an inspection. The State Duma granted us such rights by its resolution in May 1997. And since January 1998, I headed it.

When we started work, he went big flow information from various sources on various officials, starting, for example, with Chernomyrdin and Gaidar and ending with prosecutors, governors, and chiefs of the Internal Affairs Directorate different regions. The check was carried out not only in relation to officials, but also on a number of facts characterizing the Russian government in certain years. Among bright examples- an appeal from an American company regarding an agreement concluded with the Russian Federation to search for the so-called gold of the party. The agreement was signed by Yegor Gaidar. At that time, Yeltsin headed the government, and Gaidar was his deputy. The essence of the complaint was that the company did its job, but the Russian government did not fulfill the agreement with the Americans.

This is one big thing that we have been doing. And the other, as I remember, concerned the appeal of the Novosibirsk scientist Maksimov. There were two fundamental points. The first is the sale by the Russian government of 500 tons of enriched uranium to the United States under the so-called Gore-Chernomyrdin deal. And the second is the developments of this scientist in the field nuclear reactors. He came up with fundamentally new principles for the operation of reactors, and his research was torpedoed in the scientific community and in government structures.

We had to communicate with Rokhlin on a number of issues, but we did not touch upon the problems of the nuclear deal in our discussions. And I started checking after Lev Yakovlevich died and Maksimov came to me. We met in the second half of 1998.

To be honest, at the beginning there was a lot of skepticism. 500 tons of uranium are incredible volumes... But then this began to be confirmed from different sources, including from our fellow deputies. I remember that I spoke about this with the Chairman of the Security Committee, Viktor Ilyukhin, and he said that yes, this is most likely true. Although the parliament of the Russian Federation did not conduct an in-depth check.

As part of this appeal, on behalf of the Commission, I signed a number of requests regarding the reliability of the very fact of the agreement on the sale of weapons-grade uranium. I must say that we received answers from the government and the Prosecutor General's Office at the end of 1998, which did not confirm the existence of such an agreement and, in general, the very fact of the sale of uranium. During a meeting with Maksimov, I told him about these answers, to which he said that, probably, they are giving you unreliable or incomplete information. At the same time, our deputy Vladimir Volkov, who then worked in the Defense Committee, provided me with information that, after all, the deal took place, but official confirmations they didn't have it. And if the government has any documents, then, apparently, they go under certain “types”.

One of the deputy prime ministers told me that uranium was not sold abroad in such quantities. Moreover, even the Service foreign intelligence She also did not confirm the fact of sending 500 tons, but informed about the supply of a meager amount of fuel, calculated either in kilograms or in grams.

Now, after a while, we know that the agreement took place, its number, approximate contents, and terms of the deal are known, but then the government refused everything. Therefore, the responses of the SVR and other law enforcement agencies forced us to again treat the information with a certain degree of skepticism. And only in the Duma of the third convocation, when the Commission changed the direction of the fight against corruption, did the Security Committee return to this topic purely on its own initiative. The Chairman of the Committee was already Alexander Ivanovich Gurov. We have become aware of sales volumes. The total damage to the Russian budget was colossal - about 25 billion dollars. And then the country's annual budget was approximately 40 billion dollars. We have lost almost half of the state budget. Moreover, the deal was irreversible. It was impossible to terminate it. Realizing the impasse of the situation, our research actually ended.

The fact that we were misled characterizes the place of parliament in that political system, the presidential structures themselves and the entire government.

In the Duma of the sixth convocation, the topic of the so-called Gore-Chernomyrdin agreement has not yet been raised. Although I agree with those who believe that there is no statute of limitations for checks of this kind. For political and moral-legal assessments, I think, time has not passed. Analyzing the level of national security of Russia, we well understand that the leadership of our state at one time contributed to the military power of the United States. Historical justice must triumph; we have the right to name the real names of the perpetrators. General Rokhlin also wanted to do this.

Ivan Ignatievich Nikitchuk, deputy of the State Duma, says:

I am sure that Rokhlin could not ignore this issue, since it directly related to Russia’s national security. After all, give 500 tons of weapons-grade uranium to the Americans for virtually nothing, who could pass by that? For example, I was the initiator of the Government Hour in the State Duma, where we invited the former, now deceased Minister of Atomic Energy Viktor Nikitovich Mikhailov. He tried to prove to the deputies that this agreement with the Americans was beneficial for Russia. He referred to war time, they say, then the country sold everything to survive, and so it is now - if we do not trade weapons-grade uranium, the nuclear industry may cease to exist. This is pure stupidity.

And the origins of this agreement, which, I am more than sure, Mikhailov knew about, are very simple. It was mid-1993. Before the execution of the Soviet government. The Kremlin understood that it had no other options but to destroy the defenders of the Supreme Council. Therefore, during a visit to the United States of America, Yeltsin gives the go-ahead for the sale, and most likely the transfer, of five hundred tons of weapons-grade uranium, approximately half of our stock. He sets the price himself - 24 thousand dollars per kilogram, which is an order of magnitude lower than the real cost. These were actually trades - the Americans are turning a blind eye to how they will deal with Soviet power, and in October Yeltsin went so far as to shoot the Supreme Soviet from tanks. And for non-intervention, the United States received nuclear fuel. This is not a commercial decision, it was a political decision.

We gave away for nothing what was worth several trillions at that time. I repeat, I know very well the price of 500 tons of weapons-grade uranium, and selling it is not commerce, but a purely political agreement.

I worked in the nuclear industry in Arzamas-16 for almost thirty years and know very well what it means to extract 500 tons of uranium. Moreover, they barbarously removed the uranium from the missiles and gave it to someone. This is strategic material! This is a material that can be used in weapons. It can be used in the energy sector, and one third of US nuclear power plants now run on our fuel. They get electricity for practically nothing. And this is the main fuel that will be used in the future in interplanetary communications, because an engine that can run long time with the ship returning back to Earth, this is a nuclear fuel engine. Therefore, this agreement is not just stupidity, but terrible crime before the people of Russia.

Lev Yakovlevich Rokhlin was a true patriot. I was heartbroken for what was happening in the country and in the army. Of course, he did not ignore this topic. There were open and closed hearings in the State Duma. And since the general was a man of decisive action, I think that his plans, as the intelligence services monitoring his activities guessed, included this Gore-Chernomyrdin agreement. He knew the real reason agreement, we exchanged opinions with him, especially after the open hearing, when Minatom Minister Mikhailov spoke. It is interesting that the agreement has not been ratified. Despite the fact that we have demanded several times that this agreement, which involves issues of national security, be ratified as provided by law. The authorities did not agree to this. And after this hearing, Rokhlin and I talked, and I said that this matter is serious and needs to be looked into. He took my words very seriously and, apparently, took measures to clarify all the nuances of the contract. And soon Lev Yakovlevich was killed.

There's still a lot we don't know. The agreement continues to be valid and is 99 percent fulfilled. Twenty years ends. Russia received $19 billion for 500 tons of uranium. It is unknown how much went into the state budget. There were such corruption schemes, there were so many trials and imprisonments around this that it is difficult to even say for sure. Will the State Duma return to this problem? What can be decided in this Duma?..

Yuri Ilyich Skuratov comments on the situation:

Whichever side of this shameful deal you take, it is flawed on all sides. How many human lives were destroyed while they were creating a strategic reserve of nuclear fuel, how much damage was done to nature, for example, in the Chelyabinsk region, the people, as they say, tore the umbilical cord, creating the nuclear shield of the Motherland, and the reserves of weapons-grade uranium were dispersed simultaneously and ineptly. And from a strategic point of view, we suffered damage, and from a financial point of view, we couldn’t even formalize the deal legally. Undoubtedly, Minister Mikhailov pulled it all off, and many people got their hands on it. Whichever side of this topic you take, it’s a disgrace for Russia.

President Yeltsin made the decision, Chernomyrdin led the negotiations, so General Prosecutor's Office could not interfere with the agreement - as in the case of arms supplies to Armenia, our powers were limited.

This was a period of continuous privatization and selling off the country on the cheap. What was sold was something that in principle could not be sold at all. The so-called democrats who came to power did not create the economic and defense potential of the state, but traded with ease, without thinking about future generations of Russians.

I met the Novosibirsk man many times scientist Lev Maksimov, and he, like Rokhlin, was concerned about the transfer of weapons-grade, highly enriched uranium overseas. And I am concerned about the fate of Maksimov - he disappeared and does not make himself known.

The Prosecutor General’s Office did not have any serious materials on the deal at that time, but I now see that it was possible to work on Minister Mikhailov. At the same time, they didn’t let us in on this topic and didn’t even answer our requests. Therefore, according to the agreement, we did little work and in the wrong volumes. Rokhlin's role in uncovering the behind-the-scenes conspiracy between Gore and Chernomyrdin is simply invaluable - the people learned how they were being deceived. And I recognized those people who made decisions and completely discredited themselves.

P.S. So, uranium continues to flow into the United States to this day. Russia disarmed itself, emptied its own nuclear storage facilities, suffered catastrophic financial losses, and lost prospects for independent exploration of deep space. Lev Rokhlin wanted to stop this chaos, name and punish the perpetrators. This task was akin to his high political flight, fully consistent with his general audacity and his personal scale.

With Rokhlin's death, the investigation into the uranium deal lost perspective.