In any case, the incident exposed a serious flaw in the Soviet early warning system. According to the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the UN, nuclear retaliation requires that multiple sources confirm an attack. Petrov, suspecting a false alarm, decided to wait for a confirmation that never came. On 26 September 1983, during the Cold War, the Soviet nuclear early warning system Oko reported the launch of one intercontinental ballistic missile with four more missiles behind it, from the United States. Main article: 1983 Soviet nuclear false alarm incident Petrov was married to Raisa, and had a son, Dmitri, and a daughter, Yelena. In the early 1970s, he was assigned to the organization that oversaw the new early warning system intended to detect ballistic missile attacks from NATO countries. Petrov enrolled at the Kyiv Military Aviation Engineering Academy of the Soviet Air Forces, and after graduating in 1972 he joined the Soviet Air Defence Forces. His father, Yevgraf, flew fighter aircraft during World War II. Petrov was born on 7 September 1939 to a Russian family near Vladivostok. Early life and military career Colourized photo of Petrov Because of his decision not to launch a retaliatory nuclear strike amid this incident, Petrov is often credited as having "saved the world". An investigation later confirmed that the Soviet satellite warning system had indeed malfunctioned. His subsequent 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 a large-scale nuclear war which could have wiped out half of the population of the countries involved. Petrov judged the reports to be a false alarm. 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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