The man who 'really' saved the world: Who is Stanislav Petrov?

On September 1, 1983, the passenger plane of Korean Airlines with the code 007 deviated from its route and entered the airspace of the Soviet Union.

The Soviets shot down a civilian plane with 269 passengers, which it thought was a military plane, with an air-to-air missile.

US congressman Lawrence McDonald was also on the plane. No one on board was rescued. 269 people died.

From that moment on, relations between the two countries began to experience the tensest days of the Cold War years. The US response was seen as certain. The Soviet Union also began preparations for possible retaliation. After 25 days on the alert, something extraordinary happened at midnight.

SIREN BALL AT SOVIET BASE

On the night of September 26, alarms began to sound in the secret bunker Serpukhov-15, codenamed Oko, near Moscow. This was the heart of the Soviet early warning system.

And according to the warning, 5 intercontinental nuclear missiles that took off from the USA one after another were rapidly approaching Soviet Russia.

“Sirens were loud enough to raise even a dead person from his grave.”

These words belong to Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov, who was on duty at the Soviet base that day.

Standard procedure was terrifying in this event, bringing the world to the brink of disaster. Petrov's first task was to notify his commanders, then to respond immediately with the 'Alert Instant Ignition' system included in the 'Mutual Destruction Doctrine'.

That is, Soviet nuclear missiles would be fired, and a nuclear war would begin.

Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov (7 September 1939 – 19 May 2017) was a lieutenant colonel of the Soviet Air Defence Forces who played a key role in the 1983 Soviet nuclear false alarm incident. On 26 September 1983, three weeks after the Soviet military had shot down Korean Air Lines Flight 007, Petrov was the duty officer at the command center for the Oko nuclear early-warning system when the system reported that a missile had been launched from the United States, followed by up to five more. Petrov judged the reports to be a false alarm.

All Petrov had to press the red button in front of him.

'I HAVE A WEIRD FEELING'

Radars at that time were not enough. In other words, there might not have been a missile attack as detected by the warning system.

Petrov had to make a decision within 15 seconds.

If there was indeed a missile attack and Petrov was delayed, the Soviets might not be able to respond.

The duty officer Petrov was also a scientist. He did a quick analysis. If the US wanted to attack, would it only send 5 missiles?

Petrov described that moment in the following years:

“I had a strange feeling inside me. I didn't want to do anything wrong."

In that tense, chaotic environment with sirens ringing, Petrov made a decision. His decision was: “Do nothing.”

Yes, Petrov did nothing, he did not fire missiles.

And then it turned out that he was right.

The early warning system had detected the reflection of the sun's rays in the high clouds as a missile and was alarmed.

There was no attack.

THE RIGHT MAN AT THE RIGHT TIME

Petrov had made a very difficult decision, he had indeed saved the world.

But this heroism of course did not go unpunished.

After this incident, which revealed the flaws and shortcomings of the Soviet early warning system, harsh interrogation processes took place.

Petrov was withdrawn into service and retired at an early age.

What happened that night was revealed in the memoirs of former Soviet General Yury Votintsev, published in 1990.

The United Nations awarded Petrov the "World Citizenship Award" in 2006.

Years later, Petrov said of what happened:

“I was just doing my duty. I just became the right man at the right time. Even my wife of 10 years doesn't know anything about it. When he found out, he asked, "So what did you do?" And I said, 'Nothing'."

A hero of our time, Petrov passed away quietly at his home in September 2017, at the age of 77.

Few people in the world knew that he was a true hero.