1. Leonid Petrovych Telyatnikov was a Soviet, and later Ukrainian, fire brigade commander notable for his role in directing the early stages initial response to the Chernobyl disaster.
20 Facts About Leonid Telyatnikov
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Leonid Petrovych Telyatnikov was born on January 25,1951, in the village of Vvedenka, located in the Kustanay Rayon of the Kazakh SSR of the Soviet Union.
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Leonid Telyatnikov enrolled as a cadet in the Sverdlovsk Fire-Technical Academy in 1968.
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In 1974, Leonid Telyatnikov enrolled in the Higher Engineering and Fire-Technical Academy of the MVD in Moscow.
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Leonid Telyatnikov then returned to Kustanay and became the head of the Paramilitary Fire Department of the MVD of the Kustanai City Executive Committee, a position he held from 1978 to 1980.
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From 1980 to 1982, Leonid Telyatnikov was the deputy head of Paramilitary Fire Brigade No 69 in Kustanay.
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Leonid Telyatnikov quickly put on his uniform and telephoned the Pripyat Militsiya Station, asking the duty officer there to send a car to take him to the station, which was four or five kilometers from his dacha.
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Leonid Telyatnikov visited the Unit Four control room, and was told by Deputy Chief Engineer Anatoly Dyatlov that with the fire on the roof of the turbine hall under control, the priority must be the roofs of Unit 3 and the ventilation block.
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Around 02:30, Leonid Telyatnikov ordered three firemen to the roof of the ventilation block to relieve the first group of firefighters which had been fighting the fires ignited there since the beginning of the emergency.
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Leonid Telyatnikov had lost consciousness in the course of transfer from Pripyat to Kiev by bus, and his condition continued to deteriorate.
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Leonid Telyatnikov remained there until August, 1986, when he was transferred to a resort on the Latvian coast, and allowed to recuperate in the company of his wife and children.
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Leonid Telyatnikov was released for the last time on December 22,1986, ending seven months of medical treatment and recovery.
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Leonid Telyatnikov stated in a 1987 interview that it was "somewhere from 200 to 400 rem", but other sources claim that Leonid Telyatnikov received a dose of 450 to even 520 rem.
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Leonid Telyatnikov was honored with the Order of Lenin and the title of Hero of the Soviet Union by a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet on September 25,1986.
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In 1987, following his release from hospital and the completion of his recovery, Leonid Telyatnikov was sent on an international goodwill tour.
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In Japan, Leonid Telyatnikov attended a meeting of Doctors Without Borders for Nuclear Disarmament.
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Leonid Telyatnikov would hold this position through the dissolution of the USSR, until 1993.
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In newly independent Ukraine, Leonid Telyatnikov was promoted to higher positions within the state fire brigade.
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In 2003, Leonid Telyatnikov was diagnosed with cancer of the jaw.
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Leonid Telyatnikov's death was publicized by news agencies and his family received a letter of condolences from President Vladimir Putin of Russia.