Later, it was apparent that he was right: no missiles were approaching and the computer detection system was malfunctioning. Petrov declared the system's indication a false alarm. Had Petrov reported incoming American missiles, his superiors might have launched an assault against the United States, precipitating a corresponding nuclear response from the United States. Petrov has said that he was neither rewarded nor punished for his actions. In any case, the incident exposed a serious flaw in the Soviet early warning system.
Main article: 1983 Soviet nuclear false alarm incidentĪccording to the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the UN, nuclear retaliation requires that multiple sources confirm an attack. Because of this incident, Petrov is often credited as having "saved the world". An investigation later confirmed that the Soviet satellite warning system had indeed malfunctioned. Petrov judged the reports to be a false alarm, and his decision to disobey orders, against Soviet military protocol, is credited with having prevented an erroneous retaliatory nuclear attack on the United States and its NATO allies that could have resulted in the Third World War and a large-scale nuclear war which could have wiped out half of the population of the countries involved. 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. Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov ( Russian: Станисла́в Евгра́фович Петро́в 7 September 1939 – ) was a lieutenant colonel of the Soviet Air Defence Forces who played a key role in the 1983 Soviet nuclear false alarm incident.
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