The sometimes spirited repartee was reminiscent of past Hill hearings, with members of Congress grilling the witness and the witness artfully dodging the hard questions.ДЄt one point, Rep. 'I realize that very much,' said the Russian. 'We are in a capitalist country right now,' Markey shot back. Markey (D-Mass.) demanded to know why the Soviet government has failed to inform its own people of the accident, Churkin replied that 'the citizens who were affected by the accident are very well taken care of, and if they have any medical problems they will not even have medical bills to pay.'ДЄsked whether American farmers should prepare for increased Soviet purchases of grain because of radioactive contamination in the Ukraine, the breadbasket of Russia, Churkin noted dryly, 'I understand this question was not based entirely on humanitarian grounds.' He fended off the political barbs of one congressman as 'mumbo jumbo' and advised the panel not to use such a 'commanding tone' if it hoped to elicit cooperation from Moscow. It was the first time an official of the Soviet Union had testified before a House committee, a symbol, Vitaliy Churkin said, of his government's willingness to be 'very forthcoming' in responding to the public relations fallout from the Chernobyl nuclear accident.Д«ut the appearance of Churkin, a second secretary of the Soviet Embassy here, turned into a clash of political philosophies that revealed few new details of what is being called the world's worst nuclear disaster.ДЇor more than an hour, the well-tailored diplomat, displaying an array of English slang and the Gorbachev emphasis on image, parried with members of the House energy, conservation and power subcommittee.

Call of chernobyl relations