Penza, 26 April 2018. PenzaNews. A rally in support of the liquidators of the consequences of the Chernobyl accident and the people who lost their life or health there was held in Penza in the rain near the monument to radiation victims on Thursday, April 26.

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The first to lay flowers to the monument were children of kindergartens, who also brought white paper doves with them. Then they left due to bad weather.

Turning to participants of the event the head of the Penza region internal policy department, Pavel Maslov, reminded that over 2,000 residents of the region had taken part in the elimination of the consequences of the Chernobyl accident, 900 of them are still alive.

As it was noted by Penza vice mayor Andrei Shevchenko, the incident at the nuclear power plant receded in the past but its aftermath did not let anyone forget about it even then.

"I want to wish everyone affected by the tragedy peace, good health and human happiness. Let evil and destruction avoid you and your loved ones. Thank you very much," he said.

In turn, the head of the crisis situation control centre of the Penza regional department of the main EMERCOM of Russia, lieutenant colonel of internal service Vitaly Kuzenkin drew attention to the fact that fire fighters and soldiers, who did not realize all danger at that time had been the first to start elimination of the incident.

“May the memory of the people who are not with us live forever. Honour and praise to those in our ranks,” he added.

After that the chairman of the Penza regional organization Chernobyl Union, Anatoly Aleksyutin, specified that the liquidation of consequences was not in vain as it let future generations live a normal life.

According to him, he is surprised to hear that at that time there were "even civilians" at the power plant because the majority of the incident liquidators belonged exactly to this group.

"Ukraine is behind a high 'iron fence' for us nowadays but it still remains dear to us," he emphasized.

Anatoly Aleksyutin added that liquidators continue to demonstrate the highest human responsibility – for example, in 2011 after the explosion at the nuclear power plant Fukushima-1 one of the liquidators of the consequences of the Chernobyl incident called him and offered his help to Japanese.

The rally was finished by a minute of silence in memory of those who died, then the Russian anthem played and volleys were fired.

After that white balloons were let in the air and the participants laid flowers and wreaths to the monument.