Investigation has established that the site was prepared and posted by a staffer of a Samara-based company. The culprit has testified involvement and said that "it was a joke."
Gorshkov recalled that at 01:24, Moscow time, on November 4 accident shielding went into operation in the Balakovo second power unit.
"The situation entailed no effects but, the day after a web site appeared saying that a major man-caused accident has taken place at Balakovo, killing people and releasing radioactivity into the atmosphere," Gorshkov said.
This site triggered panic, the prosecutor's office said.
"People began to buy iodine-containing preparations, consume iodine intended for external application. As a result, four residents of Balakovo, including two children aged eight and ten, have been put into hospital for iodine overdosing," the deputy prosecutor said.
On fact of the spread of false rumor, the prosecutor's office of the Saratov region on November 5 initiated a criminal case on suspicion of the premeditated lies on a case of terrorism. The article intends up to three years imprisonment.
