I heard internet rumors that the Russians seized Chernobyl so quickly because the Ukrainians were hiding illegal nuclear weapons there. It would be a great place to hide them because a) nobody would accidentally find them there, and b) more importantly, the latent radiation from Chernobyl would mask the radiation emissions from the weapons. It would be a perfect place to hide them. AFAIK they aren't supposed to have them for treaty purposes, so who gave nukes to them?
Anybody else hear this? Obviously totally unconfirmed.
Rumors. No clear evidence yet.
However, it makes sense that Ukraine would do this. The city of Chernobyl was cleared out by the USSR after the meltdown, but there's still scientists and technicians who are supposedly still working to dispose of the rest of the nuclear material at the reactors.
Makes me wonder if we've been lied to since the '94 agreement with Slick Willy.
Putin says they've been lying and haven't honored the agreement. I tend to believe him.
I think Chernobyl was a psy-op to dissuade countries from switching to nuclear power completely.