
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, April 14, 1990                   TAG: 9004140190
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

SOVIET TELETHON TO AID VICTIMS OF CHERNOBYL

The Soviet Peace Fund will try to raise funds worldwide for victims of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident with a telethon on April 26, the fourth anniversary of the disaster, chess master Anatoly Karpov said Friday.

Karpov, the fund's chairman, said the 24-hour telethon will be broadcast from Moscow on Soviet state television, which is negotiating with American networks about the possibility of showing it in the United States, as well.

He said preliminary agreement had been reached for broadcast in Japan and "great interest" had been shown in Central Europe. A toll-free number is being set up for people wishing to make contributions, but no specific goal has been set, he said.

The telethon is being sponsored by the Soviet Peace Fund in association with the International Childhood Leukemia Association of Reston, Va., and Union Chernobyl U.S.A. of Anchorage, Alaska.

Dr. Leonid Kelner, executive director of the Leukemia Association, said estimates of the number of children suffering from leukemia as a result of the accident range from the tens of thousands to 160,000.

Karpov and others said the Soviet telethon would seek to raise funds, medical equipment and food for 1.5 million persons suffering because of high doses of radiation.

by CNB