FACTUAL
Petrov's Dilemma
Monday 28 July 2008 20:00-20:30 (Radio 4 FM)
Jonathan Charles hears the story of a man who obeyed his instincts and in doing so potentially saved the world from nuclear disaster.
On 26 September 1983, lieutenant colonel Stanislav Petrov, manning an installation where the Soviet Union monitored its early-warning satellites over the United States, was confronted by an alarm from a satellite signalling an American nuclear missile attack. Under enormous stress, he took the decision that the report was a false one triggered by system malfunction.
Contributors include former KGB agent Oleg Gordievsky, Times diplomatic correspondent Michael Binyon, former US Ambassador Christopher Mayer and author Dr Paul Bracken.
