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Witness History: Soviet nuclear missile alert

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Soviet nuclear missile alert

09/05/2022 GMT

BBC World Service - Witness History, Soviet nuclear missile alert

The Soviet colonel who realised that a warning of a US nuclear attack was a false alarm.

How Soviet air defence official Stanislav Petrov prevented a potential catastrophe in 1983 by realising that a computer warning about a US nuclear attack was a false alarm.

In 1983, during a tense period of the Cold War, Soviet nuclear officials received a computer warning suggesting that the United States had fired five nuclear missiles towards Moscow. Fortunately, the officer on duty, Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov, realised the warning was a false alarm and advised his commanders against a retaliatory strike against America. Alex Last hears his story, as told in 2008 to the BBC's Jonathan Charles. Stanislav Petrov died in 2017.

PHOTO: Stanislav Petrov pictured in 2004 (Getty Images)

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