Stanislav Petrov - how did a Soviet officer abolish a nuclear war?

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Yesterday it was exactly 35 years since the day when a real war between America and the USSR almost began.

On September 26, 1983, the planet Earth survived thanks to Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov.

Making choices and being responsible for them is never easy. Even when it comes only to your own life. It is even more difficult to choose if the fate of people depends on this decision.

Life on a string

September 26, 1983 Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrovhad to decide the fate of billions of human lives. And to decide in conditions when only a few seconds were left to think.

In the fall of 1983, the world went crazy. American President Ronald Reagan, obsessed with the idea of a "crusade" against the Soviet Union, brought the heat of hysteria in the West to the limit. This was also facilitated by the incident with the South Korean Boeing, shot down in the Far East on September 1.

After that, in the United States and other countries, the hottest heads in all seriousness called for "revenge" on the USSR, including with the use of nuclear weapons.

By that time the Soviet Union was headed by a seriously ill Yuri Andropov, and in general, the composition of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee did not differ in youth and health. However, there were no volunteers to let the foe descend and pass in front of him. On the whole, American pressure was perceived extremely negatively in Soviet society. A country that has survived the Great Patriotic War is generally difficult to scare with anything.

At the same time, anxiety was in the air. It seemed that everything was really hanging by a thin thread.

On the night of September 26, 1983, this hair was to be cut off.

Military Dynasty Analyst

At this time, in the closed military town of Serpukhov-15, Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov was the operational duty officer of the command post of the space missile attack warning system.

In the Petrov family, three generations of men were military men, and Stanislav continued the dynasty. After graduating from the Kiev Higher Radio Engineering School in 1972, he arrived in 1972 to serve in Serpukhov-15.

Petrov was responsible for the proper functioning of the satellites that were part of the missile attack warning system. The work was hard, calls to services took place at night, on weekends, and on holidays - any problems had to be eliminated promptly.

Lieutenant Colonel Petrov was the main analyst in Serpukhov-15, and not a full-time duty officer at the command post. However, about twice a month, analysts also took a place at the attendant's console.

And the situation when it was necessary to decide the fate of the world fell precisely on the duty of Stanislav Petrov.

A random person could not become a duty officer at such an object. The training lasted up to two years, despite the fact that all the officers already had a higher military education. Each time the attendants received detailed instructions.

However, everyone already understood what they were responsible for. Minesweeper is wrong only once - an old truth. But the sapper risks only himself, and the mistake of the person on duty at such an object can cost the lives of hundreds of millions and billions of people.

Phantom Attack

On the night of September 26, 1983, the missile attack warning system dispassionately recorded the launch of a combat missile from one of the American bases. In the hall of the duty shift in Serpukhov-15 sirens howled. All eyes were directed to Lieutenant Colonel Petrov.

He acted in strict accordance with the instructions - he checked the functioning of all systems. Everything turned out to be in good working order, and the computer persistently pointed to the "two" - this is the code of the highest probability that the missile attack on the USSR is actually taking place.

Moreover, the system recorded several more launches from the same missile base. According to all computer data, the United States of America launched a nuclear war against the Soviet Union.

Despite all the preparation, Stanislav Petrov himself later admitted that he was in deep shock. The legs were wadded.

According to the instructions, further the lieutenant colonel was supposed to report on the US attack to the head of state Yuri Andropov. After that, the Soviet leader would have had 10-12 minutes to make a decision and give the command to retaliate. And then both countries will disappear in the flames of nuclear fires.

At the same time, Andropov's decision would be based precisely on information from the military, and the likelihood that a blow to the United States would be delivered is extremely high.

It is not known how the staff on duty would have behaved, but the main analyst Petrov, who has worked with the system for many years, allowed himself not to believe it. Years later, he said that he proceeded from the postulate that a computer is, by definition, a fool. The likelihood that the system was wrong was reinforced by another purely practical consideration - it is extremely doubtful that the United States, having started a war against the USSR, would have struck from only one base. And there were no launches from other American bases.

As a result, Petrov decided to consider the signal of a nuclear attack false. About which he informed all services by phone. True, in the room of the operational duty officer there was only special communication, and Petrov sent his assistant to the next one to call on a regular phone.

I sent it simply because the lieutenant colonel's own legs did not obey.

The Fate of Humanity and the Blank Magazine

What it was like to survive the next few tens of minutes, only Stanislav Petrov knows. What if he was wrong, and nuclear warheads will now begin to explode in Soviet cities?

But no explosions followed. Lieutenant Colonel Petrov was not mistaken. The world, without knowing it, received the right to life from the hands of a Soviet officer.

As it turned out later, the reason for the false triggering was the lack of the system itself, namely, the illumination of the sensors of the satellite included in the system by sunlight reflected from high-altitude clouds. The deficiency was eliminated, and the missile attack warning system continued its work successfully.

And immediately after the emergency, Lieutenant Colonel Petrov received a stick from his superiors - for the fact that during the check his combat log was not filled out. Petrov himself logically asked: what? There is a telephone receiver in one hand, a microphone in the other, there are American missile launches in front of your eyes, a siren in your ears, and you need to decide the fate of humanity in a matter of seconds. And to finish writing later, not in real time, is impossible - a criminal offense.

On the other hand, the general Yuri Votintsev, chief Petrov, you can also understand - the world was brought to the brink of nuclear disaster, must there be someone to blame? It is not so easy to get to the creators of the system, but the duty officer is right there. And even if he saved the world, he didn’t fill the magazine ?!

It's just that kind of work

However, no one began to punish the lieutenant colonel for this incident. The service continued as usual. But after a while Stanislav Petrov resigned himself - he was simply tired of irregular working hours and endless worries.

He continued to study space systems, but as a civilian specialist.

The world learned about who it owes its life to, only 10 years later. Moreover, none other than General Yuri Votintsev, who mercilessly grudged Lieutenant Colonel Petrov for an unfilled magazine, told about this in the newspaper Pravda.

From that moment on, journalists began to constantly visit the retired lieutenant colonel, who modestly lives in the suburbs. There were also letters from ordinary people who thanked Petrov for saving the world.

In January 2006, in New York, at the UN headquarters, Stanislav Petrov was presented with a special award from the international public organization Association of World Citizens. It is a crystal figurine "Hand holding the globe" with the inscription engraved on it "To the man who prevented a nuclear war".

In February 2012, in Baden-Baden, Stanislav Petrov was awarded the German Media Prize. In February 2013, a retired lieutenant colonel was awarded the Dresden Prize for the Prevention of Armed Conflict.

Stanislav Evgrafovich Petrov himself said about himself in an interview:

“I'm just a private officer who has done his job. It's bad when you start thinking more about yourself than you are worth."

It became known that Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov died in May 2017 at the age of 77 from congestive pneumonia. His son confirmed the information about his father's death.

Andrey Sidorchik

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