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<\/a>Stanislav Petrov (L), U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson (R). \u00a9 Sputnik \/ Reuters<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n
RT.com<\/p>\n
Rex Tillerson took a moment at the UN Security Council to remember Soviet officer Stanislav Petrov, who bravely called a false alarm when all computer data told him the US had launched nuclear missiles at the USSR at the height of the Cold War.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust this week, the world learned of the passing of a little known, but important figure in the history of the Cold War. His name was Stanislav Petrov and he is sometimes referred to as the man who saved the world,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0the US Secretary of State said Thursday at a Security Council meeting on nuclear non-proliferation.<\/p>\n Tillerson then went on to tell the story of the Soviet officer, who one night in 1983 was on duty, in charge of a nuclear early warning center near Moscow, when his computers detected incoming American nuclear missiles.<\/p>\n Despite all systems telling him that the bombs were heading toward the Soviet Union, Stanislav Petrov recognized it was a false alarm and reported the technical malfunction to his superiors, thus preventing a retaliatory attack by the Soviet Union which would most likely have triggered a nuclear Armageddon.<\/p>\n \u201cThis episode illustrates just how high the risk factor is with nuclear weapons,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Tillerson said.<\/p>\n Petrov described that fateful night of September 26, 1983, in an\u00a0interview<\/a>\u00a0with RT seven years ago.<\/p>\n \u201cMy cozy armchair felt like a red-hot frying pan and my legs went limp. I felt like I couldn\u2019t even stand up. That\u2019s how nervous I was when I was taking this decision,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0he said.<\/p>\n \u201cGiant blood-red letters appeared on our main screen, saying START. It said that four more missiles had been launched.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n