The day Norwegian rocket nearly sparked nuclear war

On a freezing January afternoon in 1995, a harmless scientific rocket launched from Norway triggered one of the most frightening nuclear false alarms in history—prompting Russia’s president to activate his nuclear briefcase and briefly pushing the post–Cold War world to the edge of catastrophe.

On January 25, 1995, military radar stations across northern Russia detected what appeared to be a fast-rising missile launched from waters off Norway. In an era when many believed nuclear tensions had faded with the fall of the Berlin Wall, the implications were terrifying, BBC writes. 

Russian officers knew that a single missile launched from a US submarine in those waters could deliver multiple nuclear warheads to Moscow within minutes. The alert raced up the chain of command to President Boris Yeltsin.

For the first time, a world leader activated a “nuclear briefcase”, containing the codes and communications needed to authorise a nuclear strike. Under the doctrine of deterrence, Yeltsin and his advisers faced a stark decision: whether the apparent launch signalled the beginning of an attack requiring immediate retaliation.

As later recounted by the BBC, the episode ended not with catastrophe but confusion—and, eventually, relief. That evening, BBC Newsnight presenter Jeremy Paxman wryly observed:

“Before we go, we should report that nuclear war did not break out today, despite the best efforts of a Russian news agency.”

He added that reporters, fearing “ringside seats for Armageddon”, scrambled for confirmation. A British Ministry of Defence spokesman insisted: 

“I am confident that the British have not fired any missiles at Russia.” A Pentagon spokesperson admitted: “All we have is reports of reports.”

For more than an hour, world currency markets wobbled while politicians, generals and journalists sought clarity. At 14:52 GMT, the Russian news agency Interfax corrected its report: the object detected was not an incoming missile but a rocket that had landed in Norwegian territory.

Norway later confirmed the launch was entirely peaceful—part of a civilian scientific programme studying the Northern Lights. The rocket had been fired from a civilian range and splashed down near the Arctic island of Spitzbergen, well short of Russian airspace.

Norwegian scientist Kolbjørn Adolfsen said: “I was terrified when I heard about the attention our routine firing got.”

He stressed that Moscow had been notified weeks earlier: “A message was sent through the foreign ministry on December 14 to all nations concerned that we would be doing the firing.” Somehow, the warning never reached the right desks.

The incident exposed lingering Russian sensitivity about air defences, dating back to Cold War embarrassments. Yeltsin later told Interfax: “I indeed yesterday used for the first time my ‘black’ suitcase with the button which is always carried with me.” He suggested: “Somebody perhaps decided to test us.”

Opinions differ on how close the world came to disaster. One former CIA official called it “the single most dangerous moment of the nuclear missile age”. Others were more sceptical. Russian expert Vladimir Dvorkin said there was “none at all” danger, calling it “an empty alarm.”

As BBC later noted, Russia officially blamed the scare on “a misunderstanding”. Yet the episode remains a chilling reminder that, even after the Cold War, a single missed message—and a harmless rocket—could bring the world perilously close to nuclear panic.

By Sabina Mammadli