March 8 — rejecting a proposal by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs to freeze nuclear weapons together with the USSR, President Ronald Reagan, speaking at the National Association of Evangelicals convention, called the Soviet Union the focus of evil in the modern world, a true “evil empire,” arguing that peace could be achieved only through strength. A few days later, he proposed the “Star Wars” program.
September 26 — Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov averted a potential nuclear war when, due to a malfunction in the missile attack early-warning system, a false report of an attack by the United States was received.
August 20 — U.S. President Reagan imposes a ban on supplying the USSR with equipment for the construction of pipelines.
September 5 — after the USSR shoots down a South Korean passenger airliner near Sakhalin Island, Western states impose a 14-day ban on flights by the Soviet airline “Aeroflot” to their countries.
November 23 — after the start of the deployment of U.S. missiles in Europe, USSR representatives leave the arms limitation talks taking place in Geneva.
November 24 — Andropov, Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, announces an increase in the number of missiles deployed on Soviet submarines that are targeted at the United States.