The Krasnoyarsk Geologists' Affair or Geologists' Affair (Russian: Красноярское дело геологов, Дело геологов) was an investigative process carried out in the Soviet Union in 1949–1950, involving charges against a group of geologists accused of incorrect evaluation, deliberate concealment of mineral deposits, and sabotage during the search for uranium deposits in Siberia.
In March 1954, the case was dismissed due to lack of evidence, and all convicted geologists were rehabilitated.
Background On 14 September 1929, the Supreme Council of the National Economy of the USSR and the People's Commissariat of Finance approved by joint order the "Rules of the Supreme Council of the National Economy of the USSR and the People's Commissariat of Finance of the USSR on remuneration for discoverers of new deposits of uranium and other radium-bearing ores".Статья № 9 Горного Положения Союза ССР [Article No. 9 of the Mining Regulations of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics] // Собрание Законов. 1929. № 68, P. 688. Private individuals could also be rewarded.
The emergence of the Krasnoyarsk Geologists' Affair is associated with an acute crisis in the Soviet atomic bomb project. The problem arose due to a critical shortage of explored industrial uranium deposits in the USSR. Uranium was required for the project to create a Soviet atomic bomb.
The use of nuclear weapons by the United States against Japan, and the Soviet leadership's awareness —albeit in general terms— of the existence of Plan Totality, as well as subsequent U.S. plans for preventive military actions against the USSR involving nuclear weapons,Таких как: «Пинчер» (1946 г.), «Бройлер» (1947 г.), «Бушвэкер» (1948 г.), «Кранкшафт» (1948 г.), «Хафмун» (1948 г.), «Флитвуд» (англ. Fleetwood, 1948 г.), «Когвилл» (1948 г.), «Оффтэк» (1948 г.), «Чариотир» (англ. Charioteer — «Колесничий», 1948 г.), «Дропшот» (англ. Dropshot, 1949 г.), «Троян» (англ. Trojan, 1949 г.). formed the basis for the mobilization of all possible Soviet resources to achieve nuclear military parity.
The exceptional urgency of the problem of searching for uranium and thorium industrial raw materials for the USSR's atomic program from August 1945 to the late 1950s was also emphasized in a departmental order concerning Dalstroy. Order of the Main Directorate of Dalstroy No. 0053 of 25 August 1945 prescribed that "all heads and chief geologists of geological exploration divisions of mining administrations and district geological directorates begin compiling plans for uranium prospecting within their territories. For this purpose, immediately begin laboratory testing for radioactivity and uranium minerals of all archival samples, as well as samples collected by field parties in the current year, especially from tin, tungsten, cobalt, and rare-metal deposits. Introduce monthly summaries of uranium mineralization findings for all geological exploration divisions and district geological directorates starting 1 October… For geologists who discovered uranium deposits and production managers, large monetary bonuses and state awards were established by government decision".Batsayev I. D. Особенности промышленного освоения Северо-Востока России в период массовых политических репрессий (1932—1953). [Features of Industrial Development in Northeast Russia during the Period of Mass Political Repression (1932–1953).] Дальстрой. Магадан: СВКНИИ ДВО РАН,217 с. (1932—1953). 2002
In late 1945, within the system of the Committee for Geological Affairs, a Directorate was established to oversee the search and exploration of radioactive ore deposits.Постановление Совнаркома СССР от 13 октября 1945 г. № 2628—713. [Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR No. 2628-713 of October 13, 1945.] The first heads of the Directorate were Sergey Vasilyevich Goryunov and Iosif Fyodorovich Grigoriev.Сотрудники ВИМСа – первооткрыватели урановых месторождений [All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Mineral Resources' employees – pioneers in uranium deposit exploration] Access date: 18 December 2023. Archived: 14 November 2023.
In 1946, awards were established for the discovery of uranium deposits.Постановление СМ СССР No 628-259сс Сов Секретно. Атомный проект СССР. Документы и материалы. [Decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR No. 628-259ss Sov Secret. The USSR Atomic Project. Documents and materials.] In 3 volumes. V. 2, book 6. Атомная бомба, 1945—1954. М.: Наука, Физматлит; Саров : ВНИИЭФ, 2006. 894 p. , Prospecting work began with mass checks of the radioactivity of rock samples in museums and storage facilities of geological organizations, collected at different times from a wide variety of mineral deposits, in the best case from previously identified uranium occurrences. Very great importance was attached to this work; subsequently, this was reflected in the official designation of one of the organizational forms of uranium prospecting — "mass prospecting". A number of governmental resolutions and regulations were adopted, making their implementation mandatory for all geological exploration organizations of the USSR.
Local historians and hunters were widely involved in providing feasible assistance to geologists. In 1945, the newspaper Pravda published a government appeal calling on the population — schoolchildren, teachers of natural sciences, local ore experts, tourists, prospectors, collective farmers, members of cooperatives, fishermen, hunters, and local historians — to help geologists search for ores and mineral raw materials needed by the country. The urgency of the problem of searching for industrial uranium deposits in the USSR was not lost even in the second half of the 1950s; thus, in the October 1956 issue of the magazine Yuniy Technik, a very detailed appeal article was published,Как искать уран // журн. Юный техник, 2/1956, октябрь. jt-arxiv.narod.ru. Access date 2 April 2020. Archived: 10 May 2019. containing detailed practical advice and addressed to young pioneer geologists on "how to search for uranium".
Shestakova's Memorandum In 1947, the lawyer and journalist A. F. Shestakova (born 1904) arrived in Minusinsk as a correspondent for the newspaper Pravda. In October, after numerous "signals" concerning the presence of radioactive ores and heavy-metal ores in the territory of Krasnoyarsk Krai —sent to all authorities, including the newspaper Pravda, and to Moscow— by the local historian N. V. Surin,Nekos V. V., Grek A. G., Sovluk V. I. Красноярское дело. MГЦС, г. Красноярск. [Krasnoyarsk Affair. MGCS, Krasnoyarsk.] www.netref.ru. Access date: 2 April 2020. Archived: 10 January 2019. and by the independent local historian and amateur geologist I. G. Prokhorov (born 1887),Domarenko V. A., Rikhanov L. P. Очерки по истории изучения радиоактивности и становлении урановой геологии в Центральной Сибири. Очерк первый. Истоки [Essays on the history of radioactivity research and the development of uranium geology in Central Siberia. Essay One. Origins] // Известия Томского политехнического университета. 2007. V. 311. № 1. cyberleninka.ru. Archived: 22 April 2018. Shestakova examined ownerless geological collections that had been taken from the museum atticSolvuk E. V. Первичный анализ протоколов партсобраний и планы работы парторганизаций Минусинского государственного музея за 1947—1952 гг. [Preliminary analysis of party meeting minutes and work plans of party organizations at the Minusinsk State Museum for 1947–1952.] Красноярск, 2009. www.memorial.krsk.ru. Access date: 2 April 2020. Archived: 3 February 2019. into the backyard of the Minusinsk Regional Museum named after N. M. Martyanov, where she discovered a specimen presumed to be uranium ore. The specimen, however, was labeled as limestone from the old, exhausted copper deposit "Yuliya". Shestakova sent the найденный specimen for analysis to the well-known mineralogist K. A. Nenadkevich in Moscow. The specimen was found to contain 1.5% uranium.
After several letters by Shestakova sent to Beria and Stalin, to the newspaper Pravda, as well as thematically related statements submitted to authorities by some geologists in the field, the receipt of similar signals about local geologists ignoring the opinions of local historians, hunters, and beekeepers, and the discussion of Shestakova's memorandum, the leadership of the USSR formed a version alleging that geologists were concealing deposits of heavy and rare metals, including uranium, in Siberia, in Altai (now the territory of Eastern Kazakhstan), in Tuva, in the Minusinsk region, and in Krasnoyarsk Krai.«Красноярское дело» геологов 1949 года [The Krasnoyarsk Geologists' Affair in 1949] www.memorial.krsk.ru. Access date: 2 April 2020. Archived: 7 September 2019 года. — Мемориал.Охотники за ураном. [Hunters for the uranium] kino.rgo.ru. Access date: 2 April 2020. Archived: 30 January 2020. Красноярское дело геологов. Documentary, 2014. Dir. Maria Vingard
In the Archive of the President of the Russian Federation there are preserved:Бюллетень рассекреченных документов федеральных государственных архивов [Bulletin of declassified documents from federal state archives.] Issue 12. Archived: 21 February 2020 на Wayback Machine.
22 March 1949 — Memorandum by A. B. Aristov and P. N. Pospelov "On important deposits of uranium minerals in Krasnoyarsk Krai and the reasons for delays in their development," with an appendix consisting of a report on the "Yuliya" mine, compiled by A. F. Shestakova on 1 March 1949. (File 175.) 30 March–21 April 1949 — Resolutions of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), the Council of Ministers of the USSR, and materials on the state of affairs in the Ministry of Geology and on measures to improve the work of the Ministry, on the condition of geological exploration in Krasnoyarsk Krai based on reports by A. F. Shestakova and P. N. Pospelov. (File 176.) 14 May 1949 — Memorandum by P. N. Pospelov addressed to I. V. Stalin, with an appendix containing a copy of his memorandum of 19 November 1946 and works by A. F. Shestakova, "On the history of the question of searches for radium in the depths of Russia," "A little about the past of Krasnoyarsk Krai," and "On the question of Siberian soda," concerning the wrecking activities of a group of geologists of Krasnoyarsk Krai, individual deposits, and mineral-resource regions. (File 177.) 15 May 1949 — Memorandum by P. N. Pospelov addressed to I. V. Stalin, with an appendix containing the memorandum by A. F. Shestakova "On the presumed area of the deposit from which specimen no. 23 originates and where to search for its analogues," on the state of raw-material reserves of non-ferrous and rare metals in Krasnoyarsk Krai. (File 178.)
Predominant opinion in exploration geology of those years By Resolution No. 2628–713ss, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR obligated the Committee for Geologists' Affairs to direct the main scientific and engineering personnel, as well as technical and material resources, toward ensuring geological prospecting for uranium, organizing for this purpose, on 1 April 1946, 270 field parties, including 28 geological exploration parties, 158 prospecting-and-mapping parties, and 84 revision parties, to operate in various regions of the country. The geological service had not previously known such tempos or such targeted organization on a nationwide scale.