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( IPA: ) is a Russian word for "transparency" or "openness." Mikhail Gorbachev used the term to describe a program of reform introduced to the Soviet Union in 1985 whose goals included combating corruption and the abuse of privilege by the political classes. In the broadest sense, it aimed to liberalize freedom of the press gradually, and to allow for freedom of dissent. [1] The policy met resistance during the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, when authorities hid the true extent of the nuclear accident for several days.