Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov: the man who prevented the world war

Released on the screens in 2014, the film by the director from Denmark Peter Anthony, The man who saved the world with the participation of Hollywood stars: Kevin Costner, Robert De Niro, Ashton Kutcher and Matt Damon, told the world public about the events in Russia on the night of September 26, Lieutenant-Colonel Stanislav Petrov, the operative on duty Serpukhov-15, a command post a hundred kilometers from Moscow, made a decision on which the preservation of peace on Earth depended in many ways. What happened that night and what significance does this have for mankind?

The Cold War

The USSR and the US, the two superpowers, after the end of the Second World War, became rivals in the struggle for influence in the post-war world. The insoluble contradictions of the two models of the social structure and their ideology, the ambitions of the leaders of the victorious countries and the absence of a real enemy led to a long confrontation that went down in history as the Cold War. Throughout the time, countries were in close proximity to the unleashing of the Third World War.

Overcome the Caribbean crisis of 1962 was possible only as a result of the political will and efforts of the presidents of the two countries: Nikita Khrushchev and John Kennedy, manifested in the course of personal negotiations. The Cold War was accompanied by an unprecedented arms race, in which by the beginning of the eighties the Soviet Union began to lose.

Stanislav Petrov, who rose to 1983 until the rank of Lieutenant Colonel of the Air Defense Ministry of the USSR, found the situation of a new round of confrontation of the great powers because of the Soviet Union's involvement in the war in Afghanistan. The ballistic missiles of the United States are located in European countries, to which the Soviet Union immediately withdraws from the Geneva disarmament talks.

The downed "Boeing-747"

Those in power Ronald Reagan (USA) and Yuri Andropov (November 1982 - February 1984) brought relations between the two countries to the highest point of confrontation since the time of the Caribbean crisis. The situation was added to the fire by a South Korean airliner, shot down on September 1, 1983, carrying out a passenger flight to New York. Deviated from the route by 500 kilometers, Boeing was shot down over the territory of the USSR by interceptor Su-15 captain Gennady Osipovich. On that day, a ballistic missile test was expected, which could lead to tragic confusion, as a result of which an airliner with 269 people on board was mistaken for a reconnaissance aircraft.

Be that as it may, it's hard to believe that the decision to destroy the target was taken at the level of the division commander, who later served as the commander-in-chief of the Air Force and Air Defense. In the Kremlin there was a real stir, because on board the downed liner was the US presidential candidate Larry McDonald. Only on September 7 the USSR recognized responsibility for the death of a passenger aircraft. The ICAO investigation confirmed the departure of the aircraft from the route, but no evidence of preventive action by the Soviet Air Force has been found so far.

Needless to say, international relations were extremely spoiled at a time when Stanislav Petrov was again on duty. 1983 is the year when the missile attack warning system of the USSR was in a state of constant combat readiness.

Night duty

A detailed description of events with a downed "Boeing" is best able to illustrate: in case of unforeseen circumstances, it is unlikely that the hand of General Secretary Andropov would tremble by pressing the trigger button for a retaliatory strike in the event of an enemy nuclear attack.

Lieutenant-Colonel Stanislav Petrov, born in 1939, as an engineer-analyst, took up another duty at the checkpoint Serpukhov -15, where he controlled the launch of missiles. On the night of September 26, the country was quietly asleep, for nothing boded danger. At 0 hours 15 minutes the siren of the SAAD was loudly roaring, displaying a frightening word "Start" on the banner. Behind him appeared: "The first missile started, the reliability is the highest." It was a nuclear strike from an American base. There is no regulation as the commander should think, but what happened in his head for the next moments is terrible to think. For by protocol he was immediately obliged to report on the launch of a nuclear missile by the enemy.

There is no confirmation of the visual channel, and the officer's analytical mind began to work out the version of the error of the computer system. He created more than one car, he realized that everything is possible, despite 30 levels of verification. He is told that a system error has been ruled out, but he does not believe in the logic of launching a single missile. And at his own risk he picks up the phone to report to his superiors: "False information." Regardless of the instructions, the officer takes responsibility for himself. Since then, for the world, Stanislav Petrov is a man who prevented a world war.

The danger is past

Today, a resident lieutenant colonel in Fryazino, Moscow, is asked many questions, one of which is always about how much he believed in his own decision and when he realized that the worst was over. Stanislav Petrov answers honestly: "The chances were fifty-fifty." The most serious test is the minute-by-minute repetition of the SAW signal that reported the launch of another missile. There were five in total. But he stubbornly waited for information from the visual channel, and radar could not detect thermal radiation. Never before has the world been so close to disaster as in 1983. The events of the terrible night showed how important the human factor is: one wrong decision, and everything can turn into dust.

Only 23 minutes later the lieutenant-colonel was able to breathe freely, having received confirmation of the correctness of the decision. Today one question tortures him: "What was it if that night he did not replace the ill partner and in his place was not an engineer, but a military commander, accustomed to obey the instructions?"

After a night accident

The next morning the commissions began to work at the KP. After a while, the reason for the false triggering of the SAWS sensors will be found: the optics reacted to the sunlight reflected by the clouds. A huge number of scientists, including well-deserved academicians, developed a computer system. To admit that Stanislav Petrov did the right thing and showed heroism, means to cross out the work of the whole team of the best minds of the country, demanding punishment for poor-quality work. Therefore, first the officer was promised a reward, and then changed his mind. They realized that, having begun to think and make decisions, he violated the charter. Instead of the reward followed by scolding.

The lieutenant colonel had to justify himself before the air defense commander Yu. Votintsev for an unfilled military journal. Nobody wanted to recognize the stress experienced by the operative on duty, in a few moments realized the fragility of the world.

Dismissal from the army

Stanislav Petrov, a man who prevented a world war, decided to retire from the army, resigning. After spending several months in hospitals, he settled in a small apartment in the Moscow region of Fryazino received from the military department, receiving a telephone line without queue. The decision was difficult, but the main reason was his wife's illness, which after a few years passed away, leaving her son and daughter with her husband. It was a hard period in the life of a former officer who until the end realized what loneliness was.

In the nineties, the former commander of the anti-missile and anti-space defense, Yuri Votintsev, the case on the CP Serpukhov-15 was declassified and made public, which made Lieutenant-Colonel Petrov a famous person not only in his homeland, but also abroad.

Recognition in the West

The very situation in which a soldier in the Soviet Union did not believe the system, influencing the further development of events, shocked the Western world. "Association of World Citizens" at the United Nations decided to reward the hero. In January 2006 Petrov Stanislav Evgrafovich was awarded a crystal statuette: "To a man who prevented a nuclear war". In 2012, the German media gave him a prize, and two years later the organizing committee in Dresden handed in 25 thousand euros for the prevention of armed conflict.

Americans during the presentation of the first award began to initiate the creation of a documentary and feature film about the Soviet officer. In the main role, Stanislav Petrov himself starred. The process dragged on for many years due to lack of funds. The picture was released in 2014, provoking an ambiguous reaction in the country.

American PR

The official version of the Russian state of the events of 1983 was expressed in documents submitted to the UN. From them it follows that alone the lieutenant colonel SA did not save the world. For KP "Serpukhov-15" - not the only facility that controls the launch of missiles.

On the forums there is a discussion of the events of 1983, where professionals express their opinion about a kind of PR, inflated by the Americans to take control of the entire nuclear potential of the country. Many question the rewards handed over, in their opinion, to Petrov Stanislav Evgrafovich, absolutely not deserved.

But there are those who consider the actions of Lieutenant-Colonel Petrov as an inestimable own country.

From the statements of Kevin Costner

In the film in 2014, the Hollywood star meets with the main character and is so imbued with his fate that he keeps his speech before the film crew, which can not leave anyone indifferent. He admitted that he only plays those who are better and stronger than him, but the real heroes are people like Lieutenant Colonel Petrov, who made a decision that affected the life of every person in the whole world. By opting out of the missile launch back to the US to inform the system of the attack, he saved the lives of many people, now bound forever by this decision.