The plane landed on Red Square 1987. Flight of Matthias Rust. Provocation with high cover. Years ago, the German Mathias Rust violated the state border of the USSR

I accidentally stumbled upon a story about a brave 19-year-old German who in 1987 managed to land a plane on Red Square. The event is well-known, everyone saw the footage with the plane on the square, but few people know how the preparations for the flight went and how Matthias Rust managed to get to Moscow, bypassing the USSR air defense. A story worthy of a movie.

Rust's flight to Moscow in May 1987 launched a campaign to discredit the Armed Forces

When the German pilot Matthias Rust landed on Red Square in May 1987, this event made many non-professionals doubt the perfection of the domestic air defense system. A lot has been written about this incident, but practically nothing has been published about the true causes, and how it all happened.

Here it is appropriate to mention some of the events that preceded this flight.

At the end of August 1983, air defense forces on Far East in the area of ​​Moneron Island, a South Korean Boeing 747 was destroyed, violating our airspace to a depth of 500 km. The aircraft did not keep in touch with the ground, and did not react to the actions of fighters near the cockpit. In addition, the course of the aircraft crossed the area airspace, closed even for flights of their aircraft.

Counteraction to the flight of the aircraft took place in compliance with the provisions of combat documents and in strict accordance with international rules. (Note that the crash incident South Korean aircraft Not first.)

The press and television, especially foreign ones, opened up a discussion, and sometimes just hysteria, about the legitimacy of the actions of the air defense forces to prevent this flight. Since 1985, the winds of democratic change have blown the issue further. However, no concrete proposals were made by the Ministry of Defense to correct combat documents.

POSTCARDS WITH VIEWS OF TEMPLE

And so, on May 28 at 14.00 on the Helsinki-Moscow airway at an altitude of 600 m, an air defense unit on duty near the Estonian town of Kohtla-Jarve discovers a small aircraft without an identification signal "I am mine", which is absent in the application as allowed to enter the airspace Soviet Union. This is how events unfolded to prevent the illegal entry into the airspace of the USSR of an aircraft of unknown nationality, unknown type and with unknown purposes.

In general, the situation was reminiscent of the Far East scenario with the South Korean Boeing, but one cannot discount the fact that the "Moneron syndrome" was still in force, and all this happened on one of the busiest air routes, practically in the center of Europe.

Only later, the materials of a thorough investigation will confirm that the technical complex of means throughout the entire route of Rust's flight, and it was about 1130 km, worked flawlessly, and this small plane was observed almost along the entire route. And only the human factor and a number of incredible but tragic coincidences ultimately led to the disruption of the combat mission by the air defense forces on duty, to serious personnel changes in the USSR Ministry of Defense and the beginning of the reorganization of the air defense system.

To the question "Is it by chance that 19-year-old German citizen Matthias Rust ended up in Moscow?" one can unequivocally answer: "No, not at all by chance."

From the case file, it turned out that he was young, but capable pilot he was fond of flights to the maximum range on his favorite, as he said, Cessna-172 aircraft. Only in 1986 did he fly several times to Shetland and Faroe islands. Flying over the ocean out of sight of the earth is not considered easy. Rust had decent experience in instrument navigation. During 1986, he carefully studied the area on the map, over which he was to fly a year later, collecting postcards with views of churches and temples in the area as landmarks. In May 1987, Rust decided that he was ready for the planned flight.

He took off from Helsinki airport at 13.30 Moscow time. The flight plan listed Stockholm, it's only two hours on the Cessna-172. After 20 minutes, Matthias Rust got in touch with the dispatcher, reported that everything was fine on board and said goodbye. After that, he turned off all means of communication, except for the on-board radio compass receiver, and sent the plane to the Gulf of Finland with a decrease in altitude to 200 m, after which it turned 180 degrees and headed to the point that was predetermined by him and was exactly on the route connecting Helsinki and Moscow. The Finnish air traffic control authorities recorded a change in the flight level of Mathias Rust's aircraft and a deviation from the established route. Since this created a threat to the safety of flights in the area, the controller requested (by radio) the Rust aircraft. Attempts to contact the pilot were unsuccessful.

Soon Rust's plane disappeared on all radar screens of the surveillance system 40 km from the coastline above the waters. Gulf of Finland. Already 30 minutes later, a search helicopter and two patrol boats were sent to the area of ​​​​the alleged crash of the aircraft, some objects and a small oil slick were found. Presumably, it was concluded that the plane crashed into the water and additional forces and means were needed to reliably verify this (a few months later, the Finnish rescue service will bill Rust for 120 thousand US dollars for search and rescue operations on the spot alleged disaster).

Pyct meanwhile carried out his plan of reaching the city of Moscow. The weather at that moment was cloudy, with clearings, with the lower edge of the clouds 400-600 m, the wind was from the west, and drizzling rain fell from time to time.

For about an hour of flight, Rust strictly maintained a course along a radio beacon, the navigation station of which was located in the Helsinki region. Further, the entire flight was carried out according to the readings of the magnetic compass and visual comparisons of objects that were previously plotted on the map. The main landmarks are Lake Peipus, Lake Ilmen, Lake Seliger, the Rzhev-Moscow railway line. With such extended landmarks, it is simply difficult to get lost.

TROUBLE

So, information about the discovery of an unknown aircraft was received by the automated command post of the unit at 14.10. About 15 minutes in the conditions of the "Moneron syndrome" there were negotiations with civilian dispatchers, what could it be? By this time the plane was already at the coastline. Three on-duty anti-aircraft missile battalions were put on alert, they observed the target, but they did not receive orders for destruction, everyone was waiting for the decision of the commander of the air defense OA, Major General Kromin.

When it turned out that this was not a bid aircraft, all army units were alerted and a couple of duty fighters from the Tapa airfield were raised into the air to identify the object.

At 14.29, the pilot, senior lieutenant Puchnin, reported that he had seen a white sports plane, Yak-12 type, with a dark stripe along the fuselage, in a break in the clouds. It was already in the area of ​​the city of Gdov.

The descent took place at the junction of the detection zones of two radar units, and Rust was not observed on the radars for a period of up to 1 minute. However, the flight route automated system remained stable.

At 14.31, the object was detected, but with a heading of 90 degrees instead of 130. It was now moving along the Gdov-Malaya Vishera highway. It was decided that the same object was found. From the army command post, instructions were given to clarify the parameters of the object and a command was issued to raise a couple more duty fighters to identify it. The fighters returned with nothing. According to the reports of the pilots, they did not find anything on their onboard radars. However, the mark was steadily observed by all ground units. Changes in movement parameters were noted: speed within 80-85 km/h (instead of 180-210 km/h), altitude 1000 m (instead of 600 m).

Professionals know that in spring and summer, under certain climatic conditions, stable vortex flows arise in the atmosphere that move with wind currents, exist for a long time and it is very difficult to distinguish them from a small-sized aircraft on radar screens. In such cases, you need a lot of experience and skill. At this point, apparently, it was not enough to make the right decision. The calculation was obliged to pay attention to the fact that within a minute the height of the object had almost doubled, and the speed had decreased by almost three times.

At 15.00 Rust's plane was already in the Pskov area. The weather improved, the rain stopped, and Rust again took up a height of 600 m as the most economical for this type of aircraft and continued flying.

In the same area there were training flights of one of the aviation regiments. There were from 7 to 12 aircraft in the air in different zones. Some took off, others landed, so their number was constantly changing.

RUST LEGALIZED

At 15.00, in accordance with the schedule, the code number of the state identification system was changed. All ground and air means and the systems had to perform this operation at the same time.

With fighters, this did not happen immediately. Carried away by the piloting technique, not all young pilots switched the necessary toggle switch in time, and immediately they became "strangers" for the air defense system. The commander of the radio engineering unit, knowing the situation with an unidentified aircraft, orders the operational duty officer of the system in the zone of which the fighters were located to forcibly assign the sign "I am mine."

"Otherwise, we can shoot down our own," he explains his position to the young officer. He, in turn, explains that this is contrary to the instructions and documents. The officer of the higher command post removes the intractable senior lieutenant from duty and changes him to a young lieutenant who, without understanding the military situation, carried out the order, assigning the sign "I am mine" to all fighters in the air, along with Matthias Rust's plane.

By 16.00, already legalized, Pyct flies through Lake Seliger and falls into the area of ​​responsibility of another unit.

The system's tracking facilities again confirmed that the aircraft was detected without the "I am mine" signal. Another analysis of the situation. Again the rise of the duty pair of fighters. In conditions of low cloud cover, the commanders did not dare to lower the fighters to a height below 600 m, breaking through the clouds from top to bottom. It was too dangerous. Thus, Rust's aircraft was not visually detected.

The day before Rust's flight 40 km west of the city Torzhok was a plane crash of one of the aircraft of the Air Force, a search and rescue group worked here. One of the helicopters on that day and hour served as a communications relay, loitering in the area. The decision was made that the plane without the signal "I am mine" is the application helicopter, which was in the search and rescue zone. The twice legalized Rust continued flying to Moscow. There were less than two hours left before landing.

Not understanding exactly the unidentified target, General Kromin reported it to the command post of the Moscow Air Defense District and the Central Command Post (CKP) of the Air Defense Forces as a simple violator of the flight regime, that is, a Soviet light aircraft that took off without an application.

The operational duty officer of the TsKP, Major General Melnikov, without having complete characteristics about the aircraft violating the flight regime, did not report it to the Commander-in-Chief of the Air Defense Forces, Chief Air Marshal Koldunov, who was at that time at his workplace. The first deputy chief of the General Staff, Lieutenant-General Timokhin, who remained behind the chief of staff, did not react to the report of the duty officer. Hoping that the intruder would be sorted out by themselves in the Moscow District, General Melnikov gave the command to remove this target from the alert at the Central Command Center.

At the command post of the district at that time, intense combat work was underway on control targets, which was led by the first deputy commander of the district troops, Lieutenant General Brazhnikov. He did not attach any importance to information about "a simple violator of the flight regime".

IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAW

Now let's turn to the legislative or legal basis for the actions of the air defense forces on duty. Law of the USSR on the State Border USSR dated November 1982. Article 36 read: "The air defense troops, protecting the State Border of the USSR ... in cases where the termination of the violation or the detention of violators cannot be carried out by other means, they use weapons and military equipment."

Ten months will pass, and in accordance with this Law, on September 1, 1983, a South Korean Boeing that invaded the country's airspace will be shot down. The fact that he was shot down will be hidden behind the words "observation of him was lost" for some time. And only a week later, in the Statement of the Soviet Government, it will be reported that "the fighter-interceptor carried out the order of the command post in full accordance with the Law ..."

The law was, however, an order of the Minister of Defense of the USSR, by which it was put into effect, it was allowed to open fire only on military aircraft of the capitalist countries. And that is not always the case. As a result, having reached the units and subunits, the order "grew" to a special instruction of ... 20 pages. And already according to this document, the one who made the decision to use or not use fire could go to jail.

If we add to this the Chicago Convention, according to which fire to kill on intruder aircraft is prohibited civil aviation, then one can imagine the position in which all those who led the air defense forces on duty on that ill-fated day were.

GOAL - RED SQUARE

Meanwhile, at 18.30 Matthias Rust had already approached the outskirts of Moscow, crossed Khodynka and headed straight for the Kremlin. The weather in Moscow was spring-like warm, windless and partly cloudy.

Pyst's plans were to land the plane right in the Kremlin. But, having made sure from a height of 60 m that there is no suitable site there, he decides to land on Red Square, the size of which allowed him to do this.

With a left turn and a descent, Rust comes in for a landing between the Kremlin's Spasskaya Tower and St. Basil's Cathedral. However, this could not be done due to the many people in the square. He makes a second attempt, climbing sharply and turning over the Rossiya Hotel. Also descending, turning on navigation lights and shaking his wings, Rust hoped that passers-by would understand his intentions and free up the diagonal of the square for landing. However, this did not happen.

Having made one more U-turn over the Rossiya Hotel, Rust, nevertheless, managed to detect the operation mode of the traffic light on the Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge using a stopwatch. Having begun the descent over Bolshaya Ordynka Street, Rust very accurately calculated the trajectory of his plane's descent. And, as soon as the red light of the traffic light at the beginning of the bridge turned on, the plane, almost touching the chassis of the roof of the cars, touched the bridge with its wheels. This distance was enough to, having extinguished the speed, taxied to the cathedral and turned off the engine. The clock on the Spasskaya Tower of the Kremlin showed 19 hours 10 minutes, but it was still far from evening.

FLIGHT DISCUSSION

The Rust flight gave rise to heavy accusations not only against the Air Defense Forces, but also against the Armed Forces. On May 30, a meeting of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU was held, which ended with the dismissal of the Minister of Defense Marshal of the Soviet Union Sergei Sokolov and the Commander-in-Chief of the Air Defense Forces Chief Marshal of Aviation Alexander Koldunov.

By June 10, 34 officers and generals were brought to justice in the Air Defense Forces. The flywheel of punishment continued to spin. Many were removed from their positions, expelled from the CPSU, fired from the Armed Forces, put on trial. The prestige of the Armed Forces was dealt a blow. In fact, the entire leadership of the Ministry of Defense, up to and including the commanders of military districts, was replaced. The impression was created that there were some circles in the country interested in undermining the confidence of the people in their Armed Forces. This was evidenced by the unwillingness to understand that the country's air defense system was created not to fight against any means capable of flying into our airspace, but primarily to repel an attack from air and space by combat aircraft, cruise missiles and other unmanned vehicles that pose a danger to objects of the country that no air defense of any state in peacetime can withstand air hooligans who deliberately violate the airspace, especially on aircraft sports type at low and extremely low altitudes. Such a task is beyond the power of the state from an economic point of view, and even more so for a country with a border length of more than 60,000 km.

IMPACT ON PRESTIGE

In this case, Rust's flight to Moscow was clearly provocative. The flight was planned in advance, as evidenced by the choice of an experienced pilot, his program of purposeful instrument training for the maximum range, and a thorough study of the features of the upcoming route over the territory of the USSR.

One can only guess who was behind this provocation. The calculation of striking at the prestige of the Armed Forces of the USSR, their leadership, in the center of which were the Air Defense Forces, was accurate. Nevertheless, the power structures, starting with the Politburo, have created a state-wide hype around the Rust overflight problem. Thus, his people were confused, the prestige of the Armed Forces was undermined.

It turns out that our potential enemy inflicted a serious defeat on the defense capability of the USSR with the hands of the "own" Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee. Rust marked the beginning of a decline in the prestige of service in the Armed Forces, which continues to this day. There was no need to dream of a better one.

In the West, Rust's flight to Moscow was savored. The magazine "Stern" praised his "feat", breaking through the strongest air defense system of a hundred launch complexes of surface-to-air missiles, 6 air regiments with 240 fighter-interceptors, etc. The article informed that after 48 hours Alexander Koldunov, Commander-in-Chief of Air Defense, lost his post, having shot down 46 German aircraft that the incident with Rust gave Mikhail Gorbachev a reason to remove 75-year-old Marshal Sergei Sokolov from the post of Minister of Defense ...

It was also noted that on May 1, there were only five military men on the podium of the Mausoleum instead of fifteen. The calculation of the adventurous overflight of Rust was confirmed. We were able to deal with our own.

On August 4, Rust was pardoned and sentenced to four years in prison. In an interview with an Izvestia correspondent, Andreev, a member of the board of the USSR Prosecutor's Office, in every possible way downplaying the severity of the criminal's guilt, reducing Rust's "leprosy" to malicious hooliganism, painted a picture of the fertile conditions in which Rust was kept in the colony. But our commanders were punished with all unjustified cruelty for this case. Nobody thought to rehabilitate them.

It is worth recalling here how similar cases acted in other countries. On September 12, 1954, a Cessna-type plane landed at the White House in Washington, next to the presidential residence. The plane crashed from a collision with a tree near the building. The pilot died.

Shortly after Rust's landing, a light-engine aircraft made unauthorized flights over Paris for several nights in a row, diverting known forces and means to prevent flights.

But neither in the United States nor in France were ministers of defense removed for these flights, much less the honor of all armed forces was affected. They were more sensible there. First of all, the radar service was strengthened, more advanced technical means were urgently put into combat operation, and the flow of operational information was accelerated.

The landing of Rust in Moscow at one time turned into a great tragedy for the Air Defense Forces in conditions when the air defense fully met the requirements of the time. Now let's try to imagine a similar span in our time, when the air defense system in relation to its main assets is significantly weakened due to the implementation of the so-called. principle of "reasonable sufficiency". Today, such a "Rust" can easily fly almost anywhere and at any time. There is something to think about.

On September 4, 1987, exactly thirty years ago, the trial of the scandalous case of Matthias Rust, a young German amateur pilot, who, a few months earlier, on May 28, 1987, landed on his plane on Red Square - in the very heart of the Soviet capital, ended with a guilty verdict .

The Cessna-172 aircraft, piloted by 18-year-old German citizen Matthias Rust, landed right at St. Basil's Cathedral in the center of Moscow. The Soviet leadership was in real shock. After all, not only did the plane of a simple German guy cover the distance from the Soviet border to the capital of the country and was not shot down by air defense systems, this event also happened, which is very symbolic, on May 28 - Border Guard Day. It was a real slap in the face of the entire Soviet system. Naturally, Matthias Rust was arrested immediately after the plane landed.

Almost immediately after Rust's plane landed on Red Square, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU Mikhail Gorbachev decided to dismiss a number of top military leaders, primarily those who were responsible for the air defense of the Soviet state. The highest-ranking "retiree" was the Minister of Defense of the Soviet Union, 72-year-old Marshal Sergei Sokolov. He has held this position since 1984, replacing the deceased Marshal Dmitry Ustinov. Prior to his appointment as Minister of Defense, Marshal Sokolov from 1967 to 1984, for seventeen years, was the First Deputy Minister of Defense of the USSR. A participant in the Great Patriotic War, Marshal Sokolov was one of the most prominent Soviet military leaders. In particular, from 1980 to 1985. he was responsible for directing the actions of Soviet troops on the territory Democratic Republic Afghanistan. However, the flight of the German youth cost the respected marshal his career. Of course, they could not throw the honored military leader “on the street” - already in June 1987 he took the post of inspector general of the Group of General Inspectors of the USSR Ministry of Defense.

In addition to Marshal Sokolov, Air Chief Marshal Alexander Koldunov, who served as Commander-in-Chief of the Air Defense Forces of the Soviet Union and was directly responsible for the security of the airspace of the Soviet country, was dismissed immediately after the flight of Matthias Rust. Twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Alexander Koldunov went through the Great Patriotic War as a fighter pilot, after the war he served in the fighter aviation of the Air Force, and then in the air defense. He took the post of commander-in-chief of the Air Defense Forces in 1978, nine years before the flight of Matthias Rust. But not only the top military leaders have lost their positions. About 300 senior officers were dismissed from the service. A powerful blow was dealt to the personnel of the Soviet armed forces. They also found "scapegoats" - two officers of the Air Defense Forces received real terms of imprisonment. They were Lieutenant Colonel Ivan Karpets, who was on duty at the Tallinn Air Defense Division on the day of Rust's flight, and Major Vyacheslav Chernykh, who was on duty at the radio engineering brigade that ill-fated day.

As for Rust himself, after being detained on Red Square, he was arrested. On June 1, a few days after the flight, Matthias Rust turned nineteen years old. The young German celebrated his birthday in prison. The whole world followed the fate of the guy who demonstrated that the defense system of the Soviet Union was by no means "iron". And it really was so - with outright traitors who penetrated the top leadership of the Soviet state, it simply could not be iron. Naturally, without "providing" at the highest level, Rust's flight would simply be impossible. He would have been shot down in the worst case while still in the sky over Estonia. However, Rust was literally given the green light to fly all the way to the Soviet capital. This could only happen with the sanction of the highest Soviet leaders. It is not very clear who specifically gave the go-ahead for Rust's landing on Red Square, and it is unlikely that we will ever know about it. But it is obvious that this was a person or people who were part of the highest group of the Soviet elite.

The displaced military leaders were in opposition to the course that by this time the Soviet leadership, headed by Mikhail Gorbachev, had begun to pursue. Attacking the command of the armed forces was one of the main tasks of those people who were behind the methodical and systematic destruction of the Soviet state. After all, the famous marshals and generals who went through the Great Patriotic War and were real patriots of the Soviet state could simply not allow all those manipulations with the country that led to the 1991 disaster. Subsequently, the American military expert William Odom even compared the "cleansing" of the Soviet military elite after the flight of Matthias Rust with the repressions against Soviet military leaders that took place in 1937-1938. Interestingly, after each such purge, three or four years later, a catastrophe ensued. In 1941, the terrible Great Patriotic War, and in 1991 the Soviet Union collapsed, and this process was also accompanied by rivers of blood in the former Soviet republics, numerous military conflicts, riots, an unprecedented wave of crime and violence.

Therefore, it is hardly worth evaluating the act of Matthias Rust as a "harmless prank" of a young romantic aviator. Most likely, a carefully thought-out and organized provocation took place here, in which both Western intelligence services and an impressive cover from the Soviet side could participate. At least, many prominent Soviet and Russian military leaders agree in this opinion, who believe that without the "Kremlin roof" the flight of Matthias Rust would have ended tragically for him. The purpose of organizing such a flight was to weaken the Soviet state by solving the following tasks: 1) creating a pretext for a large-scale "cleansing" of objectionable top military leaders, 2) discrediting Soviet system defense in the eyes of the citizens of the USSR and the world community, 3) strengthening anti-Soviet sentiments in society. It was after the flight of Matthias Rust and the dismissal of the Minister of Defense of the USSR Marshal Sergei Sokolov that Mikhail Gorbachev began a rapid reduction in the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union. Rust's flight in this context was another argument - why do we need "such an army", and even in "such numbers" that missed the flight and landing on Red Square of a sports plane of some German youth.

It is noteworthy that shortly before Matthias Rust's flight, USSR Minister of Defense Marshal Sokolov personally reported to Mikhail Gorbachev on how the air defense system of the Soviet state was organized and how it worked. Leaving the General Secretary, Sokolov forgot some documents from him, including very secret map. But the next day, when he tried to return the documents, Gorbachev said that he did not remember where they were. This version was subsequently voiced, according to a number of publications in the Russian media, by Colonel General Leonid Ivashov. Be that as it may, the majority of military leaders agree on one thing - the action with the flight of Rust was thought out and planned. There is also another very interesting version, according to which Rust landed on Red Square with full tanks fuel, which indicates only one thing - it was refueled somewhere on Soviet territory. And they could do this only directly under the control of the "omnipotent" Soviet KGB.

The trial of Matthias Rust was scheduled for September 2, 1987. Matthias Rust was charged under three articles of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR - illegal crossing of the air border, violation of international flight rules and malicious hooliganism. In the definition of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR, hooliganism was interpreted as deliberate actions grossly violating public order and expressing clear disrespect for society, while malicious hooliganism meant the same actions, but accompanied by "exceptional cynicism or special audacity." The landing of the plane on Red Square, where a lot of Soviet people were walking, was regarded in this way. For malicious hooliganism, the Criminal Code of the RSFSR provided for liability in the form of imprisonment for up to five years or corrective labor for up to two years. Violation of the rules of international flights provided for an even wider range of punishment - from one year to ten years in prison, however, under the same article it was possible to get off without a real term - by paying a large fine.

At the trial, Matthias Rust said that he flew to Moscow in order to demonstrate to the Soviet people his desire for peace. However, the prosecution did not heed these arguments of the young German. The prosecutor asked for Matthias Rust under three articles of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR ten years in prison. But the trial turned out to be much more lenient than the accusation.

On September 4, 1987, Matthias Rust was sentenced. He was sentenced to four years in prison. On the one hand, anti-Soviet elements in the Soviet Union itself and the world community immediately expressed indignation at such, from their point of view, cruel reprisal against the "messenger of peace." On the other hand, on the contrary, today there are many questions about the verdict, which seems to some to be overly liberal. Firstly, those articles of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR were applied to Matthias Rust, which were not tough and could not entail such serious measures as, say, the death penalty. Secondly, all the same, four years of imprisonment for such an act of state significance looked very strange, especially in comparison with what ordinary Soviet citizens were then given four years for.

The mildness of Rust's sentence testified that no one was going to punish him seriously. In the old days, when the Soviet Union was really an opponent of the capitalist West, Matthias Rust would have received at best ten years in distant northern camps, and at worst he would have simply been sentenced to death. But in 1987 the situation changed. It is possible that the liberal measure of punishment for Rust was to demonstrate to the West the further readiness of the Soviet Union for "democratization".

At the beginning of August 1988, less than a year after the trial, Matthias Rust was granted amnesty and safely returned to his homeland. In pre-trial detention and in the colony, the young German spent only 14 months. In fact, Mikhail Gorbachev generously forgave Matthias Rust for the biting slap in the face of the Soviet Union and the Soviet Army, inflicted before the eyes of the whole world. Of course, “Western friends” persistently asked for Matthias Rust (by that time Moscow was already looking at the West with wide eyes), German Chancellor Helmut Kohl could personally turn to Mikhail Gorbachev. Mikhail Sergeevich, who a few years later successfully transferred the GDR to the FRG, could not refuse his West German colleague.

The decision to release Matthias Rust was enthusiastically received both in the West, where it once again confirmed the weakening of the superpower and its readiness to concede to the West from now on in everything, and in the Soviet Union itself, since anti-Soviet sentiments at that time in society were already very strong, especially among the "active" part of society - the capital's intelligentsia, young representatives of the nomenklatura. Both the flight of Matthias Rust, and the lenient sentence, and his imminent release demonstrated the beginning of changes in the life of the Soviet Union and fit perfectly into Gorbachev's perestroika. First they forgave Rust, then they allowed the GDR to be included in the FRG, to overthrow all the pro-Soviet regimes in Eastern Europe, and in the end, to destroy the Soviet Union itself.

By the way, the life of Matthias Rust after returning to his homeland in Germany was very interesting. Some actions perfectly characterize the true image of the "messenger of peace." So, already in November 1989, after 15 months after his release from the Soviet colony, Matthias Rust, who by that time was doing alternative service in a hospital in Riessen, began to look after a nurse. He invited her on a date, and after the nurse refused to go with him, he stabbed her with a knife. For this, Matthias Rust was arrested - already "native" German authorities. In 1991, he was sentenced to four years in prison - just the same term was given to Rust for landing on Red Square. But after 15 months, Rust was released from prison (and it repeats again - in the USSR he was released after fourteen months).

In 1997, ten years after his flight, Rust, who by then lived in the distant West Indies, in the state of Trinidad and Tobago, converted to Hinduism and married a local girl of Indian origin. Then he returned with his young wife to his homeland, to Germany, but in 2001 he again came to the attention of the police - this time for stealing a sweater in one of the supermarkets. In the mid-2000s, twenty years after his flight, Matthias Rust claimed he wanted to "build bridges" between West and East. But oh true history his flight, he still prefers to remain silent.

2002-05-28T11:16Z

2008-06-05T12:22Z

https://site/20020528/156496.html

https://cdn22.img..png

RIA News

https://cdn22.img..png

RIA News

https://cdn22.img..png

15 years ago, the German Matthias Rust violated state border USSR

116

On May 28, 1987, when the USSR celebrated another Border Guard Day, 19-year-old German Matthias Rust got into a small sports plane "Cessna-172", without an entry visa, crossed the Soviet border, flew 800 km over the territory of the USSR and landed his plane on Krasnaya Moscow square. The aircraft brand "Sesna-172" was designed in the 1950s. This two-seat aircraft achieves with its relatively low-power motor top speed 220 km/h However, the aircraft is popular with flying sports because of its ease of operation and reliability. According to Muscovites and guests of the capital, who walked around the center of Moscow on May 28, 1987, the plane with a left turn and a descent came in for landing between the Spasskaya Tower of the Kremlin and St. Basil's Cathedral. Rust failed to land the plane directly on Red Square (there were too many people on the square). Having made one more U-turn over the hotel "Rossiya", he went down, landed in the middle of the Moskvoretsky bridge and taxied to ...

On May 28, 1987, when the USSR celebrated another Border Guard Day, 19-year-old German Matthias Rust got into a small sports plane "Cessna-172", without an entry visa, crossed the Soviet border, flew 800 km over the territory of the USSR and landed his plane on Krasnaya Moscow square.

The aircraft brand "Sesna-172" was designed in the 1950s. This two-seat aircraft reaches a maximum speed of 220 km/h with its relatively small engine. However, the aircraft is popular with flying sports because of its ease of operation and reliability.

According to Muscovites and guests of the capital, who walked around the center of Moscow on May 28, 1987, the plane with a left turn and a descent came in for landing between the Spasskaya Tower of the Kremlin and St. Basil's Cathedral. Rust failed to land the plane directly on Red Square (there were too many people on the square). Having made one more U-turn over the hotel "Rossiya", he went down, landed in the middle of the Moskvoretsky bridge and taxied to Vasilyevsky Spusk.

A crowd immediately formed around the blue and white single-engine Cessna. Matthias Rust got out of the cockpit and started signing autographs. When the police arrived and demanded documents, he declared that he had come "as a fighter for peace." Rust was taken away, according to eyewitnesses, in a black ZIL, and a special truck towed the plane from Red Square in an unknown direction.

Rust began his flight from Hamburg, the extreme eastern point his itinerary was to be Stockholm. But Rust took a course through Soviet Estonia to Moscow, which he reached unhindered by low altitudes after five hours, five hours later.

Rust was spotted by Soviet locators, but for a long time the commanders could not decide whether or not to shoot down the "object".

Rust's flight to Moscow was clearly provocative. The incident had serious political consequences. In the West, his "feat" was praised, Rust was called "a brave lone hero who, risking his life, punched a hole in the Iron Curtain in order to convey the message of peace to the leadership of the USSR." Roots spoke about this in all Western talk shows. But in the courtroom, Rust claimed that he had crossed the border of the USSR "on a dare."

In the Soviet Union, Rust was found guilty of illegally crossing the border and had to serve a four-year prison sentence. However, his Lefortovo imprisonment lasted only a year. The Soviet government, as a "goodwill gesture," decided to release Matthias ahead of schedule, and he was handed over to the German authorities.

Punishment awaited not only the "air hooligan". On May 30, 1987, a meeting of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU was held, which ended with the dismissal of the Minister of Defense Marshal of the Soviet Union Sergei Sokolov and the Commander-in-Chief of the Air Defense Forces Chief Marshal of Aviation Alexander Koldunov. By June 10, 34 officers and generals were brought to justice in the Air Defense Forces. Many were removed from their positions, expelled from the CPSU, fired from the Armed Forces, put on trial. In fact, the entire leadership of the Ministry of Defense, up to the commanders of military districts, was replaced.

In a petition for clemency, Rust wrote: “Now, after many months of imprisonment, everything has become clear to me. I deeply regret what I have done. was able to carry out legal work for world peace in the FRG. Flying home from Sheremetyevo-2, Rust shed a tear and promised reporters that he would certainly return to the Soviet Union as a tourist "to get to know this wonderful country better."

On May 28, the Soviet Union celebrated the Day of the Border Guard. In 1987, this holiday was hopelessly spoiled by the Soviet border guards - in the center of Moscow, near St. Basil's Cathedral, a foreign plane landed.

Light aircraft "Cessna-172", piloted by an 18-year-old German Matthias Rust, had a huge impact on the history of the Soviet Union.

Landing on Red Square was the reason for the resignation of the Minister of Defense Sergei Sokolov and the Commander-in-Chief of Air Defense Alexandra Koldunova, who were opposed to politics Mikhail Gorbachev, as well as for a large-scale "purge" in the ranks of the Soviet military, which, according to foreign experts, was comparable only to the "purge" of the "great terror" of the late 1930s.

Even 28 years later, there is no consensus on whether Rust's flight was the prank of a lone youth or an elaborate intelligence operation.

Rust himself insisted years later that it was a mission of peace. Inspired by the thaw in relations between West and East, the young man decided to build a air bridge”, Arriving in Moscow and landing in the very center of the Land of Soviets.

Lost over the Baltic

Rust received his pilot's license in 1986 at the Hamburg Aeroclub. In the same flying club in May 1987, the German rented a Cessna-172, and also received detailed maps required for the flight. According to Rust, he did not inform anyone about his true intentions.

Starting on May 13 from the airport of Uetersen, Rust through Shetland Islands and the Faroes on May 15 reached Iceland. On May 22, the German flew to Norwegian Bergen, from there on May 25 to Finnish Helsinki.

In the capital of Finland, he made the final decision to fly to Moscow.

On the morning of May 28, having refueled the Cessna, Rust took off from the airfield, declaring Stockholm as the target. The airfield staff noticed that the Cessna was not only refueled to capacity, but additional fuel tanks. The flight to Stockholm obviously did not require such an amount of fuel. Nevertheless, Rust was allowed to take off.

The Cessna took off at 12:21, and twenty minutes later the plane left the airport control area. Rust stopped communicating with the dispatch service, turned to coastline Baltic Sea and disappeared from Finnish airspace near Sipoo at approximately 13:00.

The disappearance of the Cessna was regarded by Finnish dispatchers as a possible accident, raising the alarm for rescue services.

"Cessna" was led from the very border

Rescuers found an oily spot in the sea, which allowed them to conclude that a disaster had occurred. Where the stain came from is not clear to this day. Subsequently, when it became known where Rust's plane actually flew, the Finns billed him for 100 thousand dollars for the work of rescuers. True, when there was a big fuss around the world around the flight, the lawsuit was withdrawn.

"Cessna" Matthias Rust at that moment crossed the Soviet border near the town of Kohtla-Jarve and headed for Moscow. The pilot was guided by magnetic compass and predetermined objects - Lake Peipsi, Lake Ilmen, Lake Seliger, railway line Rzhev - Moscow.

Immediately after the flight of Rust, a persistent myth appeared that the military, who were celebrating the Day of the Border Guard, “slammed” the intruder aircraft, as they say. Actually it is not.

At 14:10 "Cessna" was detected by radio equipment of air defense units. Three anti-aircraft missile battalions were put on alert, but they did not receive orders for destruction.

Later, Rust's plane was also visually detected near the city of Gdov. Soviet fighters, who defined it as "a sports aircraft of the Yak-12 type".

The Cessna was flying at low altitude and low speed, and the fighters were unable to escort the light aircraft. Therefore, having flown around the intruder, they returned to base.

To shoot down - it is impossible, to plant - it does not work

The picture of the helplessness of the Soviet military in front of Matthias Rust, which is firmly entrenched in many, is completely wrong. Indeed, the air defense system is built with an eye on much more serious and dangerous targets than a light aircraft.

First of all, because the history of the destruction of the passenger South Korean Boeing on September 1, 1983 dominated the USSR. And although in that story, by and large, for the Soviet side there was no fault, the Kremlin in no case wanted a repetition of such an incident.

In addition, the report of the pilots confirmed that we are talking about a light-engine civil aircraft, and to shoot down civil aircraft the Soviet military had no right. Actually, it was the same in the case of the South Korean Boeing, since it was mistakenly identified as an American reconnaissance aircraft.

Convention on international aviation, also known as the "Chicago Convention", prescribes that in case of violation of the airspace of countries by light-engine sports aircraft, they should not be shot down, but forced to land. It was not possible to plant Rust with the help of combat fighters for the reasons described above, and the military did not quickly find another way.

Rust Bridge

Thus, the Cessna flew safely to Moscow at 18:30. As Rust himself said, he wanted to sit in the Kremlin or on Red Square, since he simply did not know other places in Moscow. But there were no conditions for landing in the Kremlin, and there were a lot of people on Red Square.

As a result, the pilot, entering from the direction of Bolshaya Ordynka, landed on the Bolshoi Moskvoretsky Bridge, which with good reason can be called Rustov Bridge from that time, and coasted to St. Basil's Cathedral.

Curious people gathered around the plane. Rust got out of the cab, began to communicate with people. Among the Muscovites and guests of the capital there was a schoolboy with an excellent knowledge of a foreign language, who served as a translator. The German pilot began to take autographs.

Surprisingly, in the first minutes, there were no special services among those who surrounded Rust. Only the policeman on duty asked if the pilot had a visa and, having learned that it was not, left the German alone.

While Matthias Rust was telling Muscovites about his desire to talk with Gorbachev, the military appeared, cordoned off the plane, but did not take tough actions. It was only around 20:00 that three people in civilian clothes suggested that Rust come in to give explanations.

Later, the pilot said that he was interrogated somewhere near Red Square. This is not surprising - Muscovites know that the complex of buildings of the Committee state security is located from the Kremlin within walking distance.

Lefortovo hospitality

We communicated politely with Rust, asking who organized the flight and what his goals were. The German insisted - he was for peace and friendship, he flew in to express his support for Gorbachev.

He really supported Gorbachev - thanks to his flight, the Soviet leader dealt a powerful blow to the positions of the military, who critically assessed his policies.

But Gorbachev did not want to meet with Rust. The hopes of the German that he would be reprimanded and released were not justified either. He was charged with hooliganism, violation of aviation law and illegal border crossing. On September 4, 1987, Matthias Rust was sentenced to 4 years in prison.

In fact, Rust spent only 432 days in the Lefortovo pre-trial detention center. Although they treated him correctly, the German was in a depressed state. And in vain - the Soviet prison looked like a much more pleasant alternative than the surface-to-air missile, which could well have "visited" Rust during the flight.

In the summer of 1988, the famous head of the USSR Foreign Ministry, and at that time the chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Andrei Gromyko, signed a decree amnestying Rust. On August 3, 1988, the pilot returned to Germany, where for some time he became a very popular person.

Open session of the Judicial Collegium for Criminal Cases Supreme Court USSR in the case of German citizen Matthias Rust, a 19-year-old amateur pilot, who is accused of violating the rules of international flights and malicious hooliganism. Photo: RIA Novosti / Yuri Abramochkin

"It was an irresponsible act"

However, it didn't last too long. Rust was again remembered in the fall of 1989, when he was already on trial in Germany. He did an alternative service in a hospital, where he stabbed a nurse who did not share his love feelings. In 1991, a German court sentenced Matthias Rust to 4 years - that is, to the same term as the Soviet court had previously. As in the USSR, in Germany they showed leniency towards him, releasing him after 15 months in prison.

Rust then traveled the world, married an Indian, converted to Hinduism, became disillusioned with both his wife and religion, returned home, where he was again on trial - in 2001 he was caught stealing a sweater in a department store.

It seems that the memories of the flight to Moscow have become for him the main business of life. He willingly meets with journalists, talking about him, for his 25th birthday in 2012 he even released a memoir.

Then, in 2012, the Stern magazine published the opinion of 44-year-old Matthias Rust about his act committed in May 1987: “Now I look at what happened in a completely different way. I certainly would not repeat this and would call my then plans unrealizable. It was an irresponsible act."