Poligon

It was in the wide-open spaces of Kazakstan that the army chose to set up their nuclear missile testing base. Naturally, the population was not consulted, but learnt to adapt. The years go by, and new technology arrives, bringing radio and television. The Vietnam War is at its height, the army pursues the nuclear testing and explains to the population that they should be proud of this. But before long, the Perestroika brings radical transformations. The academicians Sergey Sakharov, Velikhov and Khariton give their accounts of these upheavals.