Flying guest. How the German Matthias Rust helped Mikhail Gorbachev. A quarter of a century ago, a small German plane landed near the walls of the Kremlin

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Today is the 25th anniversary of the landing of a German "amateur" pilot under the walls of the Kremlin

Today is the 25th anniversary of the landing of the German pilot Matthias Rust in the very heart of Moscow, under the walls of the Kremlin. His defiantly impudent flight on May 28, 1987 from Finland to Moscow, which was never stopped by our air defense systems, became one of the milestones in the collapse of a great power - Soviet Union. A powerful, perfect for those times, air defense system was able to "overcome" a small single-engine aircraft, piloted by the same "amateur".

How could this happen? Unfortunately, many circumstances of what happened a quarter of a century ago are still carefully hidden by someone. Nevertheless, over the years, more and more evidence has been found that that "breakthrough" Soviet system The air defense, which allegedly testified to the collapse of the entire Soviet system, was in fact someone carefully planned secret operation, which was successfully implemented primarily with the help of traitors from the highest echelons of the Soviet leadership. And these traitors then used this incident to discredit the Soviet army and almost completely replace its command. Military journalist Yevgeny Kirichenko tells about this today on the pages of the Free Press.

Rust: “I was waiting for the command to land. But it didn't follow."

In fact, Rust's plane, which did not respond to the request "Own - alien”, was immediately detected by our radar facilities. The radar operator, Private Dilmagombetov, was the first to spot him, about which he immediately reported to Captain Osipov, on duty at the company's control point. Then the mark from Rust's Cessna was spotted by the operator of another station, corporal Shargorodsky, and informed the operational duty officer that he was observing an unidentified target. However, at the higher checkpoint, the issuance of information “upstairs” was delayed for 15 minutes, taking a timeout to figure out who was flying - violator of the state border or violator of the flight regime. Lieutenant Colonel Karpets and Major Chernykh decided, who were later made guilty of this whole story. - demoted and convicted by a military tribunal for five years.

But after all, the information, although belatedly, was issued further on command. A fighter piloted by Senior Lieutenant Puchnin took off to intercept Rust. He circled the Cessna twice and reported to the ground that in front of him - "light-engined sports aircraft with a blue stripe along the fuselage." If he had received a command from the ground to destroy the border violator, he would have done it easily. According to Rust, recorded in the interrogation protocol, he only once saw a Soviet interceptor and even made out orange overalls and oxygen masks Soviet pilots who sat in a row.

- I was waiting for the command to land - Rust said. - But it didn't follow. So I kept heading 117, moving at altitude 600.

Rust was lying. He was not going to land, because his task was to fly to Red Square at all costs. And the intruder flew around more than once. To avoid further encounters with fighters, Rust will then go to low altitude. Such a decision could only be made by a pilot who was well aware of the ways to counteract our air defense system.

Although Rust could have been easily shot down that day. This decision has already been made by General Kromin - Commander of the Leningrad Separate Air Defense Army. The instruction that appeared after the September events of 1983, when Far East A South Korean Boeing was shot down, as if by mistake it violated the Soviet border. The instruction forbade shooting down passenger and light-engine sports aircraft, and the general painfully searched for a solution, thereby saving the life of the German guy. Here is an excerpt from the transcript of his talks at the army command post:

- Well, shall we shoot down? The pilot reports: Yak-12 type (Soviet light-engine sports aircraft, similar to the Cessna).

It was the similarity of the Rust aircraft with the Yak-12 that misled our pilot, and behind him - and everyone else. The general decided that he was dealing with a violator of the flight regime, who forgot to turn on the identification mode on board or took off with faulty equipment. The target was handed over for escort to the units of the Moscow District, which regularly "led" it until the mark from the "Cessna" disappeared from the indicator screens.

Rust sat down for refueling near Novgorod, where was he "dressed"?

As you know, Cessna-172, piloted by Rust, took off from Helsinki at 13:15 Moscow time, and landed on Red Square at 19:30. That is, she was in the air for 6 hours and 15 minutes, covering a distance of about 880 km. This means that the Cessna came with average speed about 140 km/h, which is much lower cruising speed of this type of aircraft, which is 220 km / h.

Moreover, over for the most part the territory where the violator of the Soviet border flew, a favorable wind blew for him. That is, according to all calculations, Rust should have been in Moscow two hours earlier than the actual landing time. Consequently, the Cessna either deviated significantly from the route (it is not known for what purpose), or made an intermediate landing somewhere.

It is not surprising that inquisitive people, including the correspondent of the West German magazine Вunde M. Timm, having made similar calculations, asked themselves questions: where did the “amateur” pilot “sit down” and who could change his clothes? “After all, from Helsinki, - correspondent wondered - Matthias Rust took off in jeans and a green tunic, and after landing in Moscow, he got off the plane in red overalls. In Helsinki, according to Timm, there was no image of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima on the tail fin of the Cessna. Where did it come from on the plane after it landed on Red Square?

Rust's version of the intermediate landing is also supported by the fact that shortly after the Soviet interceptors flew over the intruder, air defense reconnaissance equipment began to issue information to the higher command post about the reduction of the target, then at about 15:32 it was lost. Apparently, the Cessna, having met with the fighters, decided not to tempt fate and, choosing a suitable site, landed.

Incidentally, in the region Staraya Russa, where Rust could make the alleged forced (or maybe planned) landing, at that time there were up to fifty airfields and more than 60 sites belonging to various departments. None of these sites in that area had communication with the authorities controlling the order and rules for the use of airspace. In a word, even if they wanted to, the witnesses of the landing of the overseas guest would not be able to call where they should. Just perfect place in order to "dive" from the all-seeing locators of the Soviet air defense. And if Rust accidentally chose such a landing site, then this accident is a match for winning all the main prizes in one lottery.

But still - could a German amateur pilot need an intermediate landing? Judging by how skillfully, with a sharp loss of altitude, he got away from the Finnish air defense fighters, we can conclude that Rust was not afraid of interceptors. Masterfully simulating a fall into the bay, he crossed our border, and the Finnish pilots, having discovered a rainbow spot on the waves from the air, returned calmed to the base.

Here, by the way, is another mystery: how could an oil stain appear on its own at the place of Rust's "fall"? A technical examination, carried out later, showed that it was impossible to fake such a stain using a canister or a barrel dropped into the bay from an aircraft. Such camouflage support for a German pilot could only be provided by a submarine or boat.

Another riddle. Why did not only our fighters sent to intercept Rust, but also the locators of several radio engineering units at once lose an air intruder? It happened somewhere in the middle of the route.

- More likely, - as Lieutenant Colonel V. Petrenko, senior navigator of the Aviation Administration of the Moscow Air Defense District, then explained to the author of the publication in SP, - being an experienced pilot, of which there is no doubt, Rust had a good idea of ​​​​what to expect from a meeting with fighters. It was enough for the interceptor to pass over the Cessna in afterburner, and it would have been blown to pieces. Therefore, it is quite possible that Rust dived sharply, having gone to a low altitude, where it is not like a fighter - not a single locator will hook. Or even took it and landed ...

The former deputy head of the combat training department of the radio engineering troops of the Moscow Air Defense District, Lieutenant Colonel E. Sukhoverov, believes that the German pilot deliberately went to an intermediate landing in order to confuse our radar officers. That is, from the border violator, as he was identified in the area Gulf of Finland, to become simply a violator of the flight regime, at which no one will shoot anymore.

Those who prepared his adventure with a landing in Moscow, sums up the author of the publication, could not help but know how the duty forces of the Soviet air defense in September 1983 in the Far East shot down a South Korean Boeing, which allegedly flew into Soviet territory by mistake and did not responded to requests from the ground. This sad experience helped Rust to deceive Soviet rocket scientists, because when the Cessna was re-detected, the locators conducted it on their screens not as an “air enemy”, but already as an “aircraft without an identification signal”, that is, a violator of the flight regime. On the part of the air defense, this already meant other, more loyal actions. However, as you know, our troops could not accurately identify Rust from the very beginning ...

If the events unfolded in this way, the author continues, then calling the flight of the “dove of peace” that landed on Red Square is simply a prank somehow the language does not turn. It seems that Rust and those who prepared him imagined the system for collecting and processing radar information of the Soviet air defense system too well.

Again, only a strange coincidence of circumstances can explain the fact that the route of the violator of the state border ran through the area where the MiG-25 fighter and Tu-22m bomber crashed the day before. Active search and rescue operations were going on in the zone of the alleged fall of the aircraft, several “turntables” were spinning in the air. Naturally, in such a hodgepodge it was possible to miss the “air enemy”, which, I emphasize, was already identified at that time as a “violator of the flight regime”. Moreover, Rust flew his plane at the same height and at the same speed as the search and rescue helicopters that were spinning along his route.

No less strange is the appearance of six unidentified targets at once in the area of ​​​​Ostashkov, Kuvshinovo and Selishche. The duty shift of the radio engineering battalion, observing these marks on the screens of their radars, began to give out the coordinates of the targets at 16:39. Their escort lasted about half an hour. Then, making sure that the targets were moving with a course and speed commensurate with the direction and speed of the wind, they stopped paying attention to them, deciding that they saw marks from the clouds on their indicators.

However, the then head of the radio engineering troops, Colonel A. Rudak, who after these events was removed from his post by the new Minister of Defense of the USSR Dmitry Yazov (although Rudak was on vacation on that ill-fated day on May 28, 1987), still believes that the locators observed not meteorological formations, and the so-called. MRSH (small balls). They were launched by someone in the Lake Seliger area. According to the officer, the configuration of marks on the radar indicators most of all coincided with the configuration of the MRS. And their "heap" location on the locator screen speaks for itself: it means that they were launched in one place.

Moreover, the balls appeared in the area of ​​responsibility of the radio engineering battalion just at the time when the Cessna flew through it. The radar operator could easily lose the mark of an air intruder among the marks of the MRS, moving in the same direction, the course of a tailwind, which, as luck would have it, was blowing towards the Mother See. Later it turned out that on May 28 there was a group of West German tourists in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bLake Seliger. And launch a similar ball, as explained knowledgeable people, as easy as pie. Enough gas lighter or aerosol can.

Experts do not exclude that at the time of Rust's flight, the balloons were launched to overload the air defense information channels: our Scandinavian neighbors practiced this tactic more than once in the northern and northwestern directions. However, for some reason, experts from the authorities did not begin to check this version.

By the way, just at the time when the radar operators were trying to figure out the tinsel of all kinds of marks that covered the indicator screens, the operational duty officer of the command post of the Moscow Air Defense District, Major General V. Reznichenko, gave the command to turn off the automated control system for unscheduled routine maintenance. This general decision during a complex search and rescue operation, when several important air objects were in the air at once, looked rather strange.

- I think there is no military secret in this, if I say that during combat duty the ACS equipment is never turned off, - Vladimir Borisovich later recalled. - Even if electricity suddenly disappears, the automated control system will be transferred to backup power supply. Therefore, when unknown persons in civilian clothes approached me and asked me to turn off the automated control system, I was even taken aback. In the air - several unidentified targets, and among them - either an “air enemy”, or a “violator of the flight regime”, and I will take it and turn off the equipment ?! In addition, a group of inspectors from the General Staff worked in the troops, which at any moment could “launch” a control target. I asked them directly: “Who are you?” And then they said that they were techies, that is, representatives of industry. I flatly refused to turn off the ACS ...

The "industrialists" began to insist, and Major General Reznichenko demanded from them an official paper signed by at least the Commander-in-Chief of the Air Defense Forces. The operational duty officer was sure that such a document would hardly be shown to him. And I was very surprised when the "representatives of the plant" literally in a matter of minutes brought a paper signed by the commander in chief ...

- After all, I was not going to turn off the ACS after that, - worried from the surging memories Vladimir Borisovich, - but they began to threaten me: they say, we will call where necessary, and you will not end up with troubles. Oh, if only I knew what it would lead to later ...

Vladimir Borisovich admitted that he was alerted from the very beginning ridiculous request"representatives of the plant", who started maintenance work at an odd hour. Earlier in similar cases always reckoned with the opinion of the operational duty officer. Why were they neglected this time?

“The West managed to attract people from Gorbachev’s inner circle to the implementation of the project”

The Soviet newspapers of that time, writes Kirichenko, as if by agreement, dubbed Rust's unprecedented flight a boyish prank, a hooligan trick, for which, it seems, one should not be punished. At the same time, Rust's "air hooliganism" led to the resignations of the highest army officials and gave Mikhail Gorbachev a reason to start a radical reduction in the armed forces. This was followed by the destruction of the Warsaw Pact, the fall of communist regimes in the countries of Eastern Europe and the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan, which was so prevented by the then Minister of Defense of the USSR, Marshal Sokolov.

When you think about it, the prank of a German amateur pilot seems far from harmless. This whole story is very much like a performance played out according to a carefully thought-out scenario, in which Western intelligence agencies and numerous agents of influence embedded in our echelons of power were probably involved.

The author of the publication cites in confirmation the words of an American specialist in national security William E. Odom, who believes that after the passage of Rust, radical changes were carried out in the Soviet army, comparable to the purge of the armed forces organized by Stalin in 1937.

“From the moment Gorbachev came to power, - writes Odom, - only the Deputy Minister of Defense for Armaments remained in his post. Among the replaced officials were the Minister of Defense, all his other deputies, the Chief of the General Staff and his two first deputies. Commander-in-Chief of the Warsaw Pact Allied Forces and Chief of Staff of the Allied Forces, all four "supreme commanders", all commanders of groups of troops (in Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary), all commanders of fleets, all commanders of military districts. In some cases (especially with regard to the command of the military districts), commanders were replaced three times ... It is difficult to say how far the wave of purges swept down the official ladder, but it probably reached at least the level of command of divisions, and possibly went even lower"...

Given such devastating consequences, it can be assumed that the flight of the West German amateur pilot was not at all a boyish prank, but a skillfully disguised spy mission to study missile-hazardous directions and the duty schedule of Soviet air defense radar systems.

- There is no doubt that Rust's flight was a carefully planned provocation by Western intelligence agencies, - the author quotes the words of Army General Pyotr Deinekin, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Air Force in 1991-1997. - And, most importantly, this special operation was carried out with the consent and knowledge of individuals from the then leadership of the Soviet Union. This sad thought about internal betrayal is suggested by the fact that immediately after the landing of Rust on Red Square, an unprecedented purge of the highest and middle generals began. It was like they were waiting for the right occasion.

- At that time I was the commander of the anti-aircraft missile forces of the air defense of the USSR and found myself, as they say, at the forefront of events, - recalls another direct participant in those events - Colonel General Rasim Akchurin, brother of the famous cardiologist Renat Akchurin. - At that very fateful moment, I was checking the Leningrad Air Defense Army in the Baltics. If Rust were shot down, I assure you, even his fragments would not be able to be collected. But we did not have the right to fire at him, we could only force him to land. Landing him, however, did not work out, because the fighters and Rust's plane had too much different speeds. But Rust was escorted, and our cars flew over him.

- I believe that it was a brilliant operation developed by Western intelligence agencies, - considers Igor Morozov, a former KGB colonel, a participant in the war in Afghanistan. - After 25 years, it becomes obvious that the West (and this is no longer a secret to anyone) managed to attract to the implementation grandiose project persons from Gorbachev's inner circle, and calculated with absolute accuracy the reaction of the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU. But there was only one goal - decapitate the Armed Forces of the USSR.

These are the sad facts that military journalist Yevgeny Kirichenko cited in his publication.

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 pre-planned objects - Lake Peipus, Lake Ilmen, Lake Seliger, the 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, there was no fault on the Soviet side, the Kremlin in no way 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 Muscovites and guests of the capital there was a schoolboy with excellent knowledge 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 Supreme Council 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."

On August 3, 1988, an unusual prisoner was released early from a Soviet prison. They were German amateur pilot Matthias Rust, a year before that became famous all over the world for the fact that landed the plane on Red Square. Then this event made a lot of noise: how did the 19-year-old guy manage to discredit the Soviet air defense system, why did he need to do this crazy act, and what punishment did the brave man suffer?

A German athlete pilot who, at the age of 19, flew a Cessna 172B light aircraft from Helsinki to Moscow and landed on Red Square on May 28, 1987, untouched by Soviet air defense. Rust's father was a businessman who sold Cessna aircraft.

Flight to Moscow

On the afternoon of May 27, 1987, 18-year-old Matthias Rust took off from Hamburg in a Cessna 172B Skyhawk four-seat light aircraft. He made an intermediate stop at Malmi Airport in Helsinki for refueling. Rust airport dispatcher said he was flying to Stockholm. At some point, Rust cut off contact with the Finnish air traffic control service, and then headed for the coastline of the Baltic Sea and disappeared from Finnish airspace near Sipoo. Rescuers found an oil slick in the sea and regarded it as evidence of a plane crash. Rust also crossed the Soviet border and headed for Moscow.

In one case (at the Tapa airfield), two fighters on duty were alerted. The fighters found Rust's plane, but did not receive instructions on further actions and, having made several flights over the Cessna plane (Rust's plane was moving at low altitude and at a low flight speed, which made it impossible to constantly accompany it with high-speed fighters), they simply returned to the airfield. Moving to Moscow, Rust was oriented along the Leningrad-Moscow railway. On the way of his flight, duty units from the airfields of Khotilovo and Bezhetsk rose into the air, but the order to shoot down the Cessna was never received.

The automated air defense system of the Moscow Military District was turned off for preventive maintenance, so tracking of the intruder aircraft had to be done manually and coordinated by telephone communication. Thus, the aircraft of Matthias Rust was not included in the list of aircraft shot down during cold war.

Rust landed on the Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge, coasted to St. Basil's Cathedral, got off the plane at 19:10 and began signing autographs. 10 minutes later he was arrested.

Versions about the air defense reaction

According to one version, Rust's flight was an action by foreign intelligence services. As General of the Army Pyotr Deinekin, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Air Force in 1991-1997, said in an interview, “There is no doubt that Rust's flight was a carefully planned provocation by Western intelligence agencies. And most importantly, it was carried out with the consent and knowledge of individuals from the then leadership of the Soviet Union. The same point of view is shared by Igor Morozov, a former colonel of the KGB of the USSR, who noted: “It was a brilliant operation developed by Western intelligence agencies. After 20 years, it becomes obvious that the secret services, and this is no longer a secret to anyone, were able to attract people from the closest circle of Mikhail Gorbachev to the implementation of the grandiose project, and they calculated with absolute accuracy the reaction of the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. And the goal was one - to decapitate the Armed Forces of the USSR, to significantly weaken the positions of the Soviet Union in the international arena.

The commander of the anti-aircraft missile forces of the USSR Air Defense Rasim Akchurin said: “The action was not at all harmless, but planned to discredit our army.<...>Commander-in-Chief Alexander Ivanovich Koldunov was removed - an amazing person, twice Hero of the Soviet Union. In addition, the commander was removed from us - I don’t know his fate, and I don’t even remember his name anymore. At that time, a lot of people were “swept away” in the air defense, and the operational duty officer was even condemned. ... they removed the excellent Minister of Defense Sergei Leonidovich Sokolov and put Dmitry Yazov in his place. According to the general on duty at the central air defense post on May 28, 1987, Sergei Melnikov, the former KGB chairman Vladimir Kryuchkov told him in a confidential conversation that he "personally prepared this operation on Gorbachev's instructions."

Consequences

Rust was accused of hooliganism (his landing, according to the court, threatened the lives of people who were on the square), violation of aviation legislation and illegal crossing of the Soviet border. Rust stated in court that his flight was a "call for peace". On September 4, Rust was sentenced to four years in prison. Matthias Rust returned to Germany on August 3, 1988 after Andrei Gromyko, then chairman of the presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet, signed an amnesty decree. Rust spent a total of 432 days in pre-trial detention and prison.

In the popular stage, Rust is described as a reckless, freedom-loving and reckless guy.

Despite early detection of Rust by air defense forces, his flight was presented in Soviet newspapers as a failure of the Soviet air defense system. Mikhail Gorbachev used the incident to remove Defense Minister Sergei Sokolov and Air Defense Commander Alexander Koldunov, as well as to further reduce armed forces. Both of them were political opponents of Gorbachev. Instead, he appointed people who supported his political course, although one of them - the new Minister of Defense Dmitry Yazov - subsequently participated in the coup against Gorbachev. In addition to those named, two more marshals lost their posts - Air Force Commander Alexander Efimov and Commander of the Moscow Air Defense District Anatoly Konstantinov. As the newspaper "Trud" noted, American specialist on national security, William E. Odom noted that "after the passage of Rust, radical changes were carried out in the Soviet army, comparable to the purge of the armed forces organized by Stalin in 1937."

Rust's life after the flight

In November 1989, Rust, who was doing alternative service in a hospital in German city Rissen stabbed a nurse because she refused to go on a date with him. For this, in 1991 he was sentenced to 4 years in prison, but was released after only 5 months. In April 1994, Rust announced that he wanted to return to Russia. There he visited an orphanage and began to donate money to it. Then he disappeared for 2 years. There were rumors about his death, but in reality, Rust was selling shoes in Moscow.

Then, at the age of 28, having traveled all over the world, Rust returned to his homeland. There he announced his intention to marry an Indian girl named Geetha, the daughter of a wealthy Bombay tea merchant. Rust converted to Hinduism, and the marriage ceremony took place in India and according to the Hindu rite. After the marriage, Rust and his wife returned to Germany.

In April 2001, Rust appeared in court on charges of stealing a sweater from a department store. As of 2002, Rust lived in Hamburg with his second wife, Athena. Now Matthias Rust makes a living playing poker.

Rust's plane is now owned by a wealthy Japanese businessman. He keeps the plane in the hangar, hoping that over time its value will increase.

Humor

After the landing of M. Rust, for some time the people called Red Square Sheremetyevo-3. Also, a joke went around the country that a police post was set up at the fountain near the Bolshoi Theater in case an American submarine surfaced.

Also, among the military personnel of the aviation fighter regiments of the Air Defense Forces of the Country, there was an anecdote about two lieutenant pilots on Red Square, one of whom asked the other to smoke. The other replied in the sense of “What are you?! No smoking at the airport!

On the morning of May 28, 1987, at Maalme Airport, near Helsinki, Matthias Rust, a German citizen, born in 1968, prepared his Cessna-172R monoplane for departure, on which he had flown from Hamburg the day before. In the flight documents, the end point of the route was listed as Stockholm.

At 13.10, having received permission, Matthias took off and headed along the planned route. After 20 minutes of flight, Rust reported to the dispatcher that he had order on board and said goodbye. After that, turning off the on-board radio station, he turned the plane sharply towards the Gulf of Finland and began to descend to a height of 80-100 m. This maneuver was supposed to ensure a reliable exit of the aircraft from the control radar surveillance zone and hide the true flight route. At this altitude, Matthias headed to the calculated point of the Gulf of Finland near the Helsinki-Moscow air route. Having turned the plane towards the first landmark on the coast of the Soviet Union (the Kohtla-Jarve shale plant with its smoke, which is visible for 100 kilometers) and comparing the readings of the radio compass with the calculated ones, Matthias lay down on the “combat course”. The weather on this part of the flight was favorable: cloudiness - stratocumulus, 4−5 points; wind - northwest, 5-10 meters per second; visibility - at least 15-20 kilometers.

2 lox. Detection

At 14.10, over the territorial waters of the Soviet Union, an unidentified light-engine aircraft was discovered by an on-duty radar company (Radar P-15) near the Estonian village of Loksa, which was approaching the coastline. According to the instructions, the air object was assigned the next number and the sign "violator of the flight regime", since at that time there were no applications for flights in this area of ​​​​small aviation. The course of the aircraft practically coincided with the direction of the busy air route Helsinki-Moscow, where there were several aircraft in the upper echelons of the airspace.

The calculation of the command post of the 14th Air Defense Division began to clarify and analyze the air situation. It was decided: until the situation was fully clarified, information “upstairs” was not to be given out. Over the territory of Estonia at that moment there were at least 10 light-engine aircraft of various departmental affiliations. None of them was equipped with a state identification system. Reinforcement shifts were called to the command posts of units and duty units of the 14th division.

For 19 minutes, the crew unsuccessfully tried to figure out the emerging air situation, while Rust's plane, meanwhile, was approaching Lake Peipus. At 14.27 the commander of the 656th fighter aviation regiment(Tapa), assessing the situation, by his decision took off a pair of MiG-23 fighters on duty with the task of one of them to block the border, the other to visually identify the violator of the flight regime. And here it took time to coordinate with the air traffic controllers the admission of the fighter to the search area, since the actions of the air defense forces on duty were carried out in the airway zone.

At 14.28 it finally turns out that civil aircraft There are no small aircraft in this area. At 14.29, the operational duty officer of the command post of the 14th Air Defense Division decided to assign the “combat number” 8255 to the intruder, to issue information “upstairs” and declare readiness No. 1.

So, information about target 8255 appeared at the command post of the 6th Air Defense Army. The commander of the 6th Air Defense Army, General German Kromin, put all formations and units of the 54th Air Defense on readiness number No. 1. The commanders of three anti-aircraft missile battalions of the 204th anti-aircraft brigade (n.p. Kerstovo), located on the route of Rust's flight, reported that the target was being observed and ready to launch missiles.

3 Change route. Station Dno

At 14.30, the weather deteriorated sharply along the route of the Cessna-172R flight. The wind intensified, the lower edge of the overcast fell to 70-100 meters, visibility dropped to 600-700 meters, and in some places it began to drizzle. Matthias decided to leave with a decrease under the lower edge of the clouds and change course to the area of ​​\u200b\u200ba reserve landmark: the railway junction of st. Bottom. Visibility was better in this direction.

During this maneuver, at 14.30 (just a minute after receiving the first data on the target), the target was lost at the command post of the 6th Air Defense Army.

The loss of radar contact with the Rust aircraft occurred at the junction of the boundaries of responsibility of two air defense formations - the 14th air defense division and the 54th air defense division, where the coordination of command post crews plays an important, if not decisive role. At 14.31, the target reappeared on the radar screens of one of the radar companies, but already 20 km west of the previous target route 8255 at an extremely low altitude. This made it difficult for her to observe steadily. They decided not to give out information on it, so as not to interfere with the already difficult situation. Moreover, the target left the detection zone of the radar company and entered the zone of responsibility of the neighboring formation.

Ten minutes earlier, at 2:21 p.m., in the area Lake Peipus on the screens of duty radars, a mark appeared with the direction of movement: Gdov-Malaya Vishera. At 14.24, information on this target began to be issued “upstairs”. From 14.25 the mark began to be observed unstable, and at 14.28 the escort of the aircraft was stopped. At 14.31, the same unit detected a target with the same parameters, but issued "up", as expected, with a different number.

At 15.00, by the decision of the commander of the 6th Air Defense Army, a duty pair of fighters was lifted into the air from the Gromovo airfield with the task of establishing the type and nationality of the target 8255. The weather was not pleasing along the flight route of the target. The warm front moved to the southeast. The cloud cover is continuous, in some places it rains, the lower edge of the clouds is 200–400 meters, the upper edge is 2500–3000 meters. The search was carried out for 30 minutes. Fighters were forbidden to descend into the clouds, it was too dangerous. Reports began to come in from anti-aircraft missile battalions that target 8255 had not been detected according to new target designations. At 15.31, the army commander decided that target 8255 was a dense flock of birds. This was reported to the Central Command Center of the Air Defense Forces.

By 15.00 Matthias approached the railway junction of st. Bottom. The weather had improved by this time. Above the point of intersection railways Matthias changed course again and now did not change it until Moscow itself.

4 Accidental flight legalization

At 15.05, the Rust airplane was already within the responsibility of the air defense formation of the Moscow Air Defense District - the 2nd Air Defense Corps (Rzhev). Its route passed through the aerobatic zones of the Air Force Aviation Regiment, where scheduled flights were taking place. Up to 12 fighters were in the air at the same time. At 15.00, in accordance with the schedule, the code of the state identification system was changed. Since this process is carried out by crews in the air and crews on the ground, this procedure takes some time. As a rule, no more than one or two minutes. In this case, the process is delayed. From a higher command post, they demanded to immediately deal with the situation, since five of the twelve fighters began to be accompanied by a system without an identification signal "I am my own plane." In order not to cause confusion in the air situation, the operational duty officer of the command post of the formation gave the command to the head of the calculation of the unit’s automation system: “Assign to all fighters the sign “I am my own plane.” Matthias' aircraft is also assigned the attribute "I am my own aircraft." Thus, at 15.10 Rust, without suspecting it, temporarily received a legal residence permit in the airspace of the USSR.

By 16.00, near the city of Ostashkov, Mathias's plane entered the detection zone of the next RTV unit along the flight route and lost its temporary registration. Information on the aircraft was again issued without the sign "I am my own aircraft." Again, a long clarification of the situation and again the assignment of the necessary attribute and further legalization of the flight.

Matthias at that time was 40 kilometers away west of the city Torzhok, where the plane crash happened the day before. Two planes collided in the air - Tu-22 and MiG-25. Several groups of rescuers and specialists in the investigation of the incident worked at the site of the fall of car fragments. People and goods were delivered to the crash site by helicopters of the aviation unit near the city of Torzhok. One of the helicopters was in the air as a communications relay. At 4:30 p.m., Matthias' plane was identified with a rotorcraft. Therefore, Rust did not cause any concern in this part of the flight.

5 Staritsa

The air situation in the detection zone of the next unit, where Matthias' plane entered, was also tense. Here they fought with the notorious long-lived meteorological objects. They have been observed on the screens of radar indicators for 40 minutes already (moreover, several objects at the same time). All objects moved to the southeast. Here Rust again fell under the "amnesty" - he was removed from escort as a meteorological object. It was already at the exit from the unit's detection zone.

Nevertheless, at the command post, they noticed the course difference between this route and air objects previously dropped from escort. At 16.48, by decision of the commander of the 2nd Air Defense Corps, two fighters on duty were raised from the Rzhev airfield with the task of searching for small aircraft or other aircraft southeast of the city of Staritsa. It was believed that vigilance during a scheduled inspection would not be superfluous. The search did not return any results.

6 Moscow. Landing on Red Square

At 17.40, Matias's plane fell into the radar coverage area of ​​the Moscow air hub. This seriously endangered the safety air traffic in the Moscow aviation zone. The plane did not appear in the plan, it flew with violations of the flight rules in the zone, there was no communication with the crew. Until the situation is clarified, the administration of Sheremetyevo Airport has stopped receiving and sending passenger liners. For some reason, the media at that time attributed some kind of mystery to this fact, up to the preliminary agreement between Sheremetyevo and Rust.

When agreeing on a joint action plan with the command of the Moscow Air Defense District, it was decided that the civil aviation administration itself would cope with the violator of the flight regime. But when they discovered that the intruder was already in the area of ​​the city limits of Moscow, where flights are generally prohibited, it was already too late to say or do anything.

At 18.30 Mathias' plane appeared over Khodynka field and continued flying to the city center. Deciding that it was impossible to land on Ivanovskaya Square in the Kremlin, Matthias made three unsuccessful attempts to land on Red Square. The dimensions of the latter allowed it to be done, but there were many people on the paving stones. And, as Matthias himself said during the investigation, “although I signaled, turning on the landing lights and shaking my wings, the tourists on the square did not understand me.”

After that, Rust made a risky decision - to land on the Moskvoretsky Bridge. Turning around over the Rossiya Hotel, Matthias began to descend over Bolshaya Ordynka Street, turning on the landing lights. The traffic police guard turned on the red traffic light to avoid an accident on the bridge. Landing on the bridge Matthias performed masterfully, given that he had to sniper into the area between adjacent transverse stretch marks of the contact trolleybus network. It happened at 18:55. Having taxied to the Pokrovsky Cathedral and turning off the engine, Matthias got off the plane in a brand new red overalls, put blocks under the landing gear and began signing autographs. 10 minutes later he was arrested.

On September 2, 1987, the Judicial Collegium for Criminal Cases of the Supreme Court of the USSR began hearing the case of Matthias Rust. He was accused of hooliganism. His landing, according to the court, threatened the lives of people who were on the square. He violated aviation law and illegally crossed the Soviet border. The case was considered at an open meeting. Then Defense Minister Sergei Sokolov, Commander-in-Chief of the Air Defense Forces Alexander Koldunov and about 300 other officers lost their posts.

Rust himself stated at his trial that his flight was a "call for peace". On September 4, 1987, Rust was sentenced to 4 years in prison for illegally crossing the air border, violating international flight rules and malicious hooliganism. After spending a total of 432 days in pre-trial detention and prison, on August 3, 1988, he was pardoned by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet and expelled from the territory of the USSR.