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Beautiful & Dangerous by Karen Mirzoyan
The explosion of a reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in 1986 was responsible for the radioactive contamination of the whole country. As a result of the accident over twenty percent of the country's forests are contaminated by radionuclides. These pictures are taken in the forests surrounding the Minsk-Grodno M6 highway identified as one of the contaminated areas. Over 1/3 of the country's territory is covered with forests including the southwestern part of the oldest existing European forest - Belovezhskaya Puscha - a Unesco World Heritage Site. Home to more than 70 mammal species and 280 bird species Belarus belongs to the ten leading forest countries of Europe. Belarus is a landlocked former Soviet republic located in eastern Europe. The country is member of a union state with Russia and has a predominantly pro-Russian orientation.
