A Russian nuclear fuel reprocessing facility has had a significant failure, and as a result, countries to the west are experiencing unseasonal levels of the not-occurring-in-nature radioactive isotope, Ruthenium-106.
The Russians say, "Eh? What? I have no idea what you are talking about. Oh yes. That analysis of the cloud of fallout coming from where we have several nuclear labs and facilities on the Russia/Kazakh border looks interesting. I still have no idea what you are talking about."
"I live in Russia and I think my country looks like a perfect setting for a new Fallout game". The quest that pops up is Far from Home from Fallout 4. Tangentially related: CNN used a Fallout 4 screenshot (that of a computer screen during the hacking) in a coverage about the Russian hack during the election.
That image from Fallout could have also been taken anywhere east or south of Budapest, in Hungary. You get into the countryside real quick when you travel outside the few major cities of eastern europe and beyond. This is where I used to spend quite a bit of time, at my girlfriend's parents' house.
They were decidedly not made aware of any incidents in the region.He also says he has spoken to Russian safety officials over the past few days and that while they do not dispute his analysis, they are unaware of any incidents in the region in the past few months.
I mentioned Chernobyl in the comments somewhere else. First thing people did was correct me on that Chernobyl wasn't in Russia.