Stanislav Petrov

Lore & Background

Petrov was born on 7 September 1939 near Vladivostok to a Russian family. His father, Yevgraf, was a World War II fighter pilot, and his mother was a nurse. He was married to Raisa, with whom he had a son, Dmitri, and a daughter, Yelena; his wife died of cancer in 1997. On 26 September 1983, the Oko system reported the launch of one intercontinental ballistic missile from the United States, followed by up to four more.

Petrov, suspecting a false alarm, decided to wait for confirmation that never came. He later cited several factors: he had been told a U.S. strike would be all-out, so five missiles seemed illogical; the system was new and not wholly trustworthy; the message passed through 30 verification layers too quickly; and ground radar failed to pick up corroborating evidence. After the incident, Petrov underwent intense questioning. Petrov stated he was neither rewarded nor punished; he was reassigned to a less sensitive post, took early retirement in 1984, and later worked at the research institute that developed the early warning system.