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Valery Legasov Quotes

Total quotes: 4
“[April 26, 1988: Alone in his apartment in Moscow, Professor Valery Legasov replays his voice on a tape recorder]
What is the cost of lies? It's not that we'll mistake them for the truth. The real danger is that if we hear enough lies, then we no longer recognize the truth at all. What can we do then? What else is left to abandon even the hope of truth and content ourselves instead with stories? In these stories, it doesn't matter who the heroes are. All we want to know is: 'Who is to blame?' In this story, it was Anatoly Dyatlov. He was the best choice. An arrogant, unpleasant man, he ran the room that night, he gave the orders... and no friends. Or at least, not important ones. And now Dyatlov will spend the next ten years in a prison labor camp. Of course, that sentence is doubly unfair. There were far greater criminals than him at work. And as for what Dyatlov did do, the man doesn't deserve prison. He deserves death. [Legasov stops the tape, sips a glass of water, and then starts recording where he left off] But instead, ten years for "criminal mismanagement". What does that mean? No one knows. It doesn't matter. What does matter is that, to them, justice was done. Because, you see, to them, a just world is a sane world. There was nothing sane about Chernobyl. What happened there, what happened after, even the good we did, all of it... all of it, madness. Well, I've given you everything I know. They'll deny it, of course. They always do. I know you'll try your best.”
— Valery Legasov, Chernobyl, Miniseries: 1
Tagged: Chernobyl, Anatoly Dyatlov, Labor Camps, Prison
“Legasov: [showing pictures of the damaged reactor] The atom is a humbling thing.

General Nikolai Tarakanov: It's not humbling, it's humiliating. Why is the core still exposed to the air? Why have we not already covered it up?

Legasov: We want to, but we can't get close enough. The debris on the roof is graphite from the core itself. Until we can push it off the roof back into the reactor, it'll kill anyone who gets near it. You see the roof is in three levels. We've named them. The small one here is Katya, one thousand roentgen per hour. Presume two hours of exposure is fatal. The one on the side, Nina, two thousand roentgen. One hour, fatal.

Tarakanov: We used remote-controlled bulldozers in Afghanistan.

Shcherbina: Too heavy. They'd fall right through.

Tarakanov: So then...?

Legasov: Moon rovers. Lunokhod STR-1s. They're light. And if we line them with lead, they can withstand the radiation.

Shcherbina: We couldn't put a man on the Moon. At least we can keep a man off the roof.

Legasov: That is the most important thing, General. Under no circumstances can men go up there.

Tarakanov: What about this large section here?

Shcherbina: [grimly] Masha.

Legasov: Twelve thousand roentgen. If you were to stand there in full protective gear head-to-toe for two minutes, your life expectancy would be cut in half. By three minutes, you're dead within months. Even our lunar rovers won't work on Masha. That amount of gamma radiation penetrates everything. The particles literally shred the circuits in microchips apart. If it's more complicated than a light switch, Masha will destroy it.

Shcherbina: It would be fair to say that that piece of roof is the most dangerous place on Earth.

Tarakanov: [sits in stunned silence for a moment, before taking a draw from his cigarette] So... what do we do?

Shcherbina: That's what we wanted to ask you.”
— Valery Legasov, Chernobyl, Miniseries: Open Wide, O Earth
Tagged: Radiation, Roentgen, afghanistan, Nuclear Meltdown
“[Ending scene: As Legasov is driven away from Chernobyl by the KGB, his voice on tape is heard]

To be a scientist is to be naive. We are so focused on our search for truth, we fail to consider how few actually want us to find it. But it is always there, whether we see it or not, whether we choose to or not. The truth doesn't care about our needs or wants. It doesn't care about our governments, our ideologies, our religions. It will lie in wait for all time. And this, at last, is the gift of Chernobyl. Where I once would fear the cost of truth, now I only ask: ‘What is the cost of lies?’”
— Valery Legasov, Chernobyl, Miniseries: Open Wide, O Earth
Tagged: Chernobyl, Scientist, Lies, Naive
“[After a meeting with the Central Committee, Legasov confronts KGB official Aleksandr Charkov about Khomyuk's arrest]

Legasov: She was arrested by the KGB. You are the first deputy chairman of the KGB.

Aleksandr Charkov: [amused] I am. That's why I don't have to bother with arresting people anymore.

Legasov: But you are bothering with having us followed.

Shcherbina: I think the deputy chairman is busy...

Charkov: No no, it's perfectly understandable. Comrade, I know you've heard the stories about us. When I hear them, even I am shocked. But we are not what people say. Yes, people are following you. People are following those people. And you see them? They follow me. The KGB is a circle of accountability. Nothing more.

Legasov: You know the work we're doing here. You really don't trust us?

Charkov: Of course I do. But you know the old Russian proverb: ‘Trust, but verify.’ And the Americans think that Ronald Reagan thought that up. Can you imagine? It was very nice speaking with you. [turns to walk away]

Legasov: I need her.

Charkov: [turns back] So you will be accountable for her? [Legasov nods] Then it's done.

Legasov: Her name is—

Charkov: I know who she is. Good day, Professor. [walks off; Legasov glances at Shcherbina]

Shcherbina: No, that went surprisingly well. You came off like a naive idiot. And naive idiots are not a threat.”
— Valery Legasov, Chernobyl, Miniseries: Open Wide, O Earth
Tagged: KGB, Ronald Reagan
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