While it doesn't look like anyone else interviewed Alexei Muradov, number of reputable western publications (not blogspam) seem to have taken this source seriously and are citing it. Washington Post did verify by way of Hollywood Reporter that it seems to be happening.
"The series was commissioned by NTV, a top free-to-air network, owned by Gazprom Media, the media arm of the natural gas giant Gazprom. It was partially financed by the culture ministry, which provided 30 million rubles ($460,000). The total budget has not been made public."
Additionally, this claim makes it seem they hurried to catch up - "Principal photography was done last year in neighboring Belarus and the series is currently in postproduction."
> In a way, the world is lucky it happened there and not somewhere else.
I understood your comment to reflect decisiveness in responding to a crisis, but just on a loosely related tangent, with nuclear issues NIMBY standards fall apart.
In Germany, hunters are required to take boars they shot to get tested for radiation - direct result of Chernobyl's aftermath. Over a third of them are over the radiation limit. Same thing is happening in Japan right now. Even if they could kill off all the animals, there's the problem of disposal.
Served on a plate, cooked just right. With a side dish of sauteed mushrooms from the area?