# Joseph Stalin and the Bomb

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joseph-stalin-and-the-bomb/975956>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 3, 2022, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joseph-stalin-and-the-bomb/975956 "2022-12-03T04:49:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 27

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**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2022, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joseph-stalin-and-the-bomb/975956/27 "2022-12-08T09:09:06Z")

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> [@Schnitte](#):
>
> The Soviet officer in charge at the time was [Stanislav Petrov](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislav_Petrov) who, correctly, assumed that this was an error and refrained from raising an alert to his superiors. The important thing to note here that Petrov’s job was _not_ to launch counterstrikes; he had neither the authority nor the technical means to do so.

Yes that is true.

> [@](#):
>
> His job was to report the alert to superiors, who would then have brought it to the attention of top decision-makers in Moscow. The world was very fortunate that Petrov acted the way he did, because we don’t know what would have happened if he had made that report; but it’s still too much to say that he should have launched a strike.

As @LSLGuy [pointed out](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/icbm-missile-crews-refusing-to-launch-possibly-apocryphal-incident/597501/27) (a decade plus ago 🤯) what exactly Petrov did is not entirely clear and even whether he refused to tell his superior. [As has been pointed out, the feed from the early warning satellites went to other places besides his command center.](https://russianforces.org/blog/2022/10/did_stanislav_petrov_save_the_.shtml)

> Once the computer classifies the signal as an indicator of a launch, it generates an alarm that is automatically sent up the chain of command (especially if it is not a single launch). There were at least three assessment and decision-making layers above the command center of the army that operated the satellites - command centers of the early-warning army, the Air Defense Forces (which was a separate service back then), and, finally, the General Staff.

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