Aju Business Daily

There was a chance that the Cold War may have resulted in a nuclear war. Stanislav Petrov was the hero who saved the countries from going into a serious war.

Petrov was a Soviet military officer working at a Russian nuclear early warning facility in 1983. The computers at the center detected there were income missiles from the U.S. He was the one who made the executive decision that it was the false detection and did not report them to his superiors.

Unbeknownst to Petrov at the time, he saved the world from a possible nuclear war that could have led to major destruction and devastation of the countries involved and surrounding nations. 

In an interview with the BBC, Petrov recalled the morning of September 26, 1983. The computer alarm systems signaled that the U.S. had launched intercontinental ballistic missiles. Petrov, who was a 44-year-old lieutenant colonel at the time, determined that it was a system malfunction. Later he found out that his instinct was correct and the U.S. did not launch missiles as the alert system suggested. 

It happened during a tense period of the Cold War between the U.S. allies and the Soviet Union. If the false alert was reported to the chain of command, then Soviet, that was already concerned with the U.S.'s possible nuclear attack, may have taken an extreme military measure to retaliate. Both the U.S. and Soviets had taken provocative measures prior to September 26, 1983.

As it was the split second decision that was accountable possibly compromising the national security, the risk Petrov took was enormous. It was against the training he received as he was to alert his superiors immediately if the system detected any possible movement. Instead, he filed a report of system malfunction. His heroic action was not made known until much later though. 

In an interview with the BBC, he said he was relieved when the strike did not happen and his intuition was right. 

Petrov passed away at his residence peacefully on May 19 this year at the age of 77, but the news was only made public earlier this week. Many people on social media expressed their condolences to honor Petrov for his brave and intuitive action and for saving the world from a nuclear war. 















Kwak, Min Jung = abiel@ajunews.com