 Rust in a Moscow courtroom Mathias Rust (born 1968) is a German pilot, who flew from Hamburg, passed the Soviet Union's air defenses and landed on Red Square near the Kremlin, Moscow, using a single-engine Cessna 172B on May 28, 1987, at the age of 19. By chance, he flew into the Soviet Union on the national border guard's holiday, and the lax security that resulted allowed him to fly into Soviet territory unnoticed.
Mikhail Gorbachev took advantage of this, replacing the defense and air defense ministers (both of whom were opposed to glasnost and perestroika) with men who supported his policies. More than 2,000 officers (again, most of whom were opposed to Gorbachev's reform) lost their jobs. This move was critical in winning the previously fiercely conservative and anti-reform military.
His trial started in Moscow on September 2, 1987. He was sentenced to four years in a labour camp for hooliganism, disregard of aviation laws and infringement of the Soviet border. After a prison sentence of 432 days in the Soviet Union, he was returned to West Germany on August 3, 1988.
Aftereffects
As a result of the harsh conditions Rust was forced to endure in the Soviet prison in which he was incarcerated (being kept 22 hours a day in a 10-m² cell, for example), Rust lost more than 10 kg and had severe stomach problems.
In 1989, after unsuccessful attempts to ask a nurse out for a date, he injured her with a knife, for which he was sentenced to two years in prison. He was released after five months, however.
Mathias Rust didn´t start his flight from Hamburg, except from Helsinki Malmi Airport, where he refuelled his Cessna before takeoff to Moscow.
Returning to Russia
In 1994 Mathias Rust announced that he was going to return to the country that he had humiliated seven years before, to visit an orphanage for which he had become the patron.
He then disappeared for two years. Rumours began to circulate that he had died, but it turned out he had been working as a shoe salesman in Moscow. Two years later, having travelled much of the world, Rust returned to Germany.
Rust is a Hindu, and lives happily with his second wife, Athena.
Recently, he launched a "think tank" called Orion & Isis, which endeavours to:
- "...work on issues which contain non-violent solutions to resolve conflicts between government, :ethnic or religious institutions. Applicants need to be in possession of an administrative :position with the connected powers of attorney or in possession of major influence from any other level."
Today, a wealthy Japanese businessman owns Rust's aircraft, keeping it in a hangar until its value appreciates.
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