The 2014 film directed by Peter Anthony from Denmark, 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 community about the events in Russia on the night of September 26, 1983. Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov, operational duty officer of Serpukhov-15, a command post a hundred kilometers from Moscow, made a decision on which the preservation of peace on Earth depended in many respects. What happened that night and what does it mean for humanity?
Cold war
The USSR and the USA, two superpowers, after the end of World War II, became rivals in the struggle for influence in the post-war world. The insoluble contradictions between the two models of 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, which went down in history under the name of the Cold War. Throughout all time, the countries were in close proximity to the outbreak of the Third World War.
The 1962 Caribbean crisis was overcome only as a result of the political will and efforts of the presidents of the two countries: Nikita Khrushchev and John F. Kennedy, shown during personal negotiations. The Cold War was accompanied by an unprecedented arms race in which the Soviet Union began to lose by the beginning of the eighties.
Stanislav Petrov, who had risen to the rank of lieutenant colonel of air defense of the USSR Ministry of Defense by 1983, found the situation in a new round of confrontation between the great powers due to the involvement of the USSR in the war in Afghanistan. Ballistic missiles of the United States are deployed in European countries, to which the Soviet Union immediately withdraws from the Geneva disarmament talks.
Downed Boeing 747
Ronald Reagan (USA) and Yuri Andropov (November 1982 - February 1984) in power brought relations between the two countries to the highest point of confrontation since the Caribbean crisis. The situation with the shot down on September 1, 1983 a South Korean airliner performing a passenger flight to New York added fuel to the fire. Deviated from the route by 500 kilometers, the Boeing was shot down over the territory of the USSR by the interceptor "Su-15" captain Gennady Osipovich. The test of a ballistic missile was expected that day, which could lead to tragic confusion, as a result of which the airliner with 269 people on board was mistaken for a reconnaissance aircraft.
Be that as it may, it is hard to believe that the decision to destroy the target was made at the level of the division commander, who later served as commander in chief of the Air Force and Air Defense. A real commotion arose in the Kremlin, because on board the downed airliner was US presidential candidate Larry MacDonald. Only on September 7 did the USSR accept responsibility for the death of a passenger plane. An ICAO investigation confirmed the fact that the aircraft deviated from the route, but no evidence has yet been found of preventive actions by the Soviet Air Force.
Needless to say, international relations were extremely spoiled at a time when Stanislav Petrov once again took up duty. 1983 is the year when the SPRN (missile attack warning system) of the USSR was on alert.
Night duty
A detailed description of the events with the downed Boeing is best illustrated: in the event of unforeseen circumstances, it is unlikely that the hand of General Secretary Andropov would flinch by pressing the trigger for a retaliatory strike in the event of an enemy nuclear attack.
Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov, born in 1939, being an analytical engineer, took up the next duty at the Serpukhov-15 checkpoint, where missile launch control was monitored. On the night of September 26, the country slept quietly, because nothing portended a danger. At 0 hours and 15 minutes, the SPRN siren roared loudly, highlighting the frightening word "Start" on the banner. Behind him appeared: "The first rocket launched, the highest reliability." It was a nuclear strike from one of the American bases. There is no regulation on how much the commander should think, but what happened in his head over the next moments is scary to think about. For according to the 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 analytical mind of the officer began to work out a version of the computer system error. Having created more than one machine, he was aware that everything was possible, despite 30 levels of verification. He is informed that a system error has been ruled out, but he does not believe in the logic of launching a single rocket. And at his own peril and risk he picks up the phone for a report to his higher authorities: "False information." Regardless of the instructions, the officer takes responsibility. Since then, for the whole world, Stanislav Petrov is the man who prevented a world war.
Danger has passed
Today, a retired lieutenant colonel who lives in the city of Fryazino near 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: "There were fifty-fifty chances." The most serious test is the minute-by-minute repetition of the SPRN signal, which announced the launch of another rocket. There were five in total. But he stubbornly waited for information from the visual channel, and radars could not detect thermal radiation in any way. The world has never 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 after 23 minutes, the lieutenant colonel was able to exhale freely, having received confirmation of the correctness of the decision. Today, one question torments him: "What would happen 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 instructions?"
After a nightly incident
The next morning, commissions began to work on the CP. After a while, the reason for the false triggering of the SPRN sensors will be found: the optics reacted to sunlight reflected by the clouds. A huge number of scientists, including distinguished academicians, developed a computer system. To admit that Stanislav Petrov did the right thing and showed heroism means to cross out the work of a whole team of the country's best minds, requiring punishment for poor work. Therefore, at first the officer was promised a reward, and then they changed their minds. They realized that by starting to think and make decisions, he violated the charter. Instead of a reward, a scolding followed.
The lieutenant colonel had to make excuses to the air defense commander Yu. Votintsev for an unfilled combat journal. No one wanted to acknowledge the stress experienced by the operational attendant, who for several moments realized the whole fragility of the world.
Dismissal from the army
Stanislav Petrov, the man who prevented a world war, decided to resign from the army, having resigned. After spending several months in hospitals, he settled in a small apartment received from the military department in Fryazino near Moscow, receiving a telephone line without waiting. The decision was difficult, but the main reason was the illness of his wife, who died several years later, leaving her son and daughter to her husband. It was a difficult period in the life of a former officer, who fully realized what loneliness was.
In the nineties, the former commander of anti-ballistic and anti-space defense, Yuri Votintsev, the incident at KP Serpukhov-15 was declassified and made public, which made Lieutenant Colonel Petrov a famous person not only at home, but also abroad.
Recognition in the West
The situation itself, in which a soldier in the Soviet Union did not believe the system, influencing the further development of events, shocked the Western world. The "Association of World Citizens" at the United Nations has decided to award the hero. In January 2006, Petrov Stanislav Evgrafovich was awarded the award - a crystal figurine: "The man who prevented a nuclear war." In 2012, the German media awarded him a prize, and two years later, the organizing committee in Dresden awarded 25 thousand euros for the prevention of armed conflict.
The Americans, during the presentation of the first award, began to initiate the creation of a documentary-feature film about the Soviet officer. Starring himself Stanislav Petrov. The process dragged on for many years due to lack of funds. The picture was released in 2014, causing a mixed 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. It follows from them that alone the lieutenant colonel of the SA did not save the world. For KP "Serpukhov -15" - not the only object that exercises control over the launch of missiles.
The forums are discussing the events of 1983, where professionals express an opinion on a kind of PR, inflated by the Americans to take control of the entire nuclear potential of the country. Many question the awards given, in their opinion, to Petrov Stanislav Evgrafovich, absolutely not deserved.
But there are those who consider the actions of Lieutenant Colonel Petrov unappreciated by their own country.
From the statements of Kevin Costner
In the 2014 film, the Hollywood star meets the main character and is so imbued with his fate that he speaks to the film crew, which cannot 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 throughout the world. Having chosen to refuse to launch missiles in the direction of the United States to report the attack, the system saved the lives of many people who are now bound forever by this decision.