Soviet Union’s war on nuclear power and the birthday of the country’s best sea painter are recalled in tonight’s Historama.
USSR says no to nuclear tests
On this day in 1985, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev announced that Russia was imposing a temporary moratorium on any nuclear tests.
Officially that would be until the end of the year and even longer if America and Europe would also stop any such tests. President Reagan declined.
The USSR restarted nuclear activity in 1987, but only for a few years. In October 1990, the Soviet Union conducted its last test.
Russia’s best sea painter
Today in 1815, Russian artist Ivan Aivazovsky was born. He was of Armenian origin, but spent his life in Crimea.
Aivazovsky is Russia’s most highly-regarded seascape artist. He left over 6,000 works, most of which depict the sea in its various states.
“The Ninth Wave” is his most famous painting. It shows sailors holding on for their lives to the debris of a wrecked ship.