AKIPRESS.COM - A former Soviet military officer credited with averting a possible nuclear disaster at the peak of the Cold War has died at the age of 77, BBCreported.

Stanislav Petrov was on duty at a Russian nuclear early warning centre in 1983 when computers wrongly detected incoming missiles from the US.

He took the decision that they were a false alarm and did not report them to his superiors.

His actions, which came to light years later, possibly prevented nuclear war.

Petrov died at his home in Moscow in May but his death has only now been made public.