Soviet soldier credited with averting nuclear war dies
Source: USA Today
A Soviet soldier credited with saving the world from nuclear holocaust has died at age 77.
Stanislav Petrov was the duty officer monitoring an early warning system from a bunker outside Moscow on Sept. 26, 1983, when the radar screen suddenly appeared to depict a missile inbound from the United States. All my subordinates were confused, so I started shouting orders at them to avoid panic," Petrov told the Russian news agency RT in 2010. "I knew my decision would have a lot of consequences."
The alert siren wailed. A message on the bunker's main screen reported that four more missiles had been launched, he said. Petrov had 15 minutes to determine whether the threat was real and report to his commanders.
Petrov, thinking that any U.S. attack should have involved even more missiles to limit the chance of Soviet retaliation, told his Kremlin bosses the alert must have been caused by a malfunction. He persuaded Moscow not to shoot back. It was later determined that Russian satellites must have mistaken sunlight reflecting off clouds for nuclear missiles.
The incident remained classified for 15 years, before a Kremlin colonel publicly discussed the incident.
Read more: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/soviet-soldier-credited-with-averting-nuclear-war-dies/ar-AAs8jOr?OCID=ansmsnnews11
Stanislav Petrov, 1939-2017.
Doreen
(11,686 posts)denbot
(9,900 posts)I am grateful that this man held the position he held at that time.
TEB
(12,859 posts)masmdu
(2,536 posts)muriel_volestrangler
(101,321 posts)The news of Petrovs death was made public after his German friend Karl Schumacher learned about it by accident, Russian media outlet Meduza reported.
Schumacher called Petrovs home on Sept. 7 to wish him a happy birthday, only to be told the news by Petrovs son. Schumacher soon published an obituary on his blog, which was subsequently picked up by Waz.
https://themoscowtimes.com/news/stanislav-petrov-died-in-may-58967
Newsworthy, I think, though - certainly picked up by several major media.
niyad
(113,336 posts)Baitball Blogger
(46,733 posts)sarisataka
(18,663 posts)Pokoysya s mirom