Yuri Orlov: Manoeuvres involving nuclear devices were carried out in Central Asia, and the troops were forced to pass through the area following the nuclear explosions in the desert. And of course, many of them subsequently died or died later, of cancer. And I don't know who the officers were, but I am positive that if someone had refused, he would not have been stood against the wall and shot. By this time, Kruschev was in power.
Slava Paperno: So why didn't people refuse?
Orlov: It may well be that someone did, in fact, I don't know... from among the commanding officers. Anyone who did that would have lost everything they had in the world, but that's not a... huge loss, if it means that he saved lives.