러시아ㆍ유라시아

The paper presents a new approach to the research of individual, collective and historical memory — through the prism of environmental disasters. Although they lead not only to physical but also to mental trauma in modern scientific discourse this aspect has not become a subject of special studies. In the example of Chernobyl disaster traumatic experience of 50 residents of Kiev, who received indirect effects of the accident, is analyzed. It is shown the formation a stable distrust of the authorities of the USSR, which is transferred to the present and entails a negative assessment of the environmental policy of independent Ukraine. Factors, which cause such situation and its relationship with the views of respondents on their future, are established. The conclusion of the feasibility of using the questionnaire method for determining the main trends traumatic impact of environmental disasters on individual memory is done. Directions for further in-depth research in this area are proposed.