With the beginning of the Khrushchev era and de-Stalinisation, the Internal Troops became significantly reduced in size, but retained their pre-war functions. After the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, Internal Troops personnel were among the cleanup crews ('liquidators'), engaged in security and emergency management activities; hundreds of servicemen were exposed to heavy radiation and dozens died. By 1989, with the increasing popular discontent nationwide that had begun to manifest in the USSR, the Internal Troops of the MVD, on orders from the Presidum of the Supreme Soviet, officially became a reporting agency of the MIA after years as a part of the Ministry of Defense.