Matthias Rust: he landed on Red Square. A quarter of a century ago, a small German plane landed near the walls of the Kremlin Airplane on Red Square 1987

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 Peipsi. 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 there are no civilian small aircraft in the 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 14.21, in the area of ​​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 of the 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 west of the city of Torzhok, where a plane crash had occurred 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 threatened the safety of 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, Matthias's plane appeared over the Khodynka field and continued flying towards 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.

Eighteen-year-old German boy Matthias Rust became famous all over the world - and disgraced the Soviet border guards on their main professional holiday

Even today, almost thirty years later, the controversy over the identity of a simple German student Matthias Rust, which brazenly landed on Red Square, flew through all the border cordons, do not subside. It is still not clear who he was - an ordinary air hooligan, adventurer, provocateur or spy (and whose), it is still not clear how he managed to make his famous flight, experts are haunted by many mysterious circumstances that became clear after scandalous landing of a young German in the very heart of the USSR.

Spoiled Border Guard Day

On May 28, 1987, a small, like a toy, plane taxied from the Bolshoy Kamenny Bridge towards Red Square. The hosts of the nearby concert were surprised, but in a country where everything was happening on a grand scale, one could expect anything, even a plane landing in its very heart.

The concert dedicated to the Day of the Border Guard continued, but the events unfolding on the square became more and more strange. The plane was surrounded by policemen, then the military appeared, pushed back the formed crowd. A young guy who piloted a sports Cessna smiled and kindly told that he was a “dove of peace”, that he flew in to “shake hands Gorbachev”,“ build bridges ”,“ peace to the world ”and so on.

There were many more beautiful and grandiloquent phrases. But is it really so cloudless, harmless and naive?

Looking at the chain of events that the visit of the allegedly peaceful-minded handsome German hippie led to, it's hard not to think that this flight was prepared in advance and that much smarter and more experienced people had a hand in its preparation than the 18-year-old "naive guy".

Suppose that everything happened exactly as Rust himself presents his act to the public: a naive idealist, carrying peace to the whole world on the wings of the Cessna, unjustly offended by the judicial system of the “evil empire”. Appearing in one of the television programs, Matthias Rust said that he did not want to harm anyone, and believed that the risk was minimal for everyone. What he knew: no one would get hurt, even if there were people at his landing site. Where such confidence? Is it really possible to assume that at almost 19 years old (Rust was born on June 1) a person does not calculate at least the most elementary consequences of his actions? Didn't Rust understand that if he managed to bypass the air defense systems, someone would have to answer for it and the most serious measures would be taken against the offender?

Did he really think that he would be met with flowers and taken to Gorbachev as a hero? Didn't he know that he had become a target over the territory of a foreign country, and only a miracle could save him from turning into a firebrand a few hundred kilometers from Moscow?

Instead of asking himself such simple questions, Matthias calmly prepared the plane and without hesitation sent it to Moscow. He acted skillfully, fitting into the air corridors for civilian ships, using weather conditions in order to break away from observation.

The military says that during the entry of Rust into Soviet airspace, a Finnish fighter was patrolling along the border, and several metallized balloons were lifted into the air in order to divert air defense systems located in the area.

The Cessna itself was also not chosen by chance: it is not clearly displayed on the radars and in general looks like a flock of birds. It can easily be lost when transferring from one area covered by radar to another, which happened several times.

Strange Details in the Matthias Rust Case

Matthias Rust flew to Moscow in an orange jumpsuit instead of the green jacket in which he took off from the point of departure; during his flight, stickers with an atomic bomb appeared on the fuselage of the aircraft. He called this image in an interview "a counter-bomb designed to fight for world peace."

Little of. Given the cruising speed of the Cessna, Rust's plane was supposed to fly to Moscow 2 hours earlier. Where has he been all this time? Why did an inspection of the plane show that its fuel tanks were almost full, even though it had flown 880 kilometers? By the way, in the early 2000s, a version was voiced that Rust's plane was refueled near Staraya Russa.

How did it happen that for several days in a row before the passage of Rust, the military did not change the radar field, which, according to the regulations, changes every 24 hours? Like they were waiting. Subsequently, information also appeared that the air defense on duty that day spotted the plane - but the reports recorded a “flock of birds”.

Why was the fighter, which went to intercept the intruder and circled it twice, not given a command to destroy or to force a landing? Why, if Rust did not hide from Soviet radars, his route did not run in a straight line, as in his other flights? Why did they cut the trolleybus wires on the bridge on which Rust was supposed to land? And finally: where did three professional cameras with cameramen “accidentally” come from on the square, who managed to capture the scene with the plane from three points of high quality? Recall that at that time television cameras capable of giving such a high-quality picture could not fit in a jacket pocket.

There are many such questions. And over the years, the answers to them do not appear. And there are more and more guesses. The series of "accidents" that Matthias is trying to justify his unthinkable luck is too great.

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 in the Far East near Moneron Island destroyed a South Korean Boeing 747 that violated 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 areas of airspace that were closed even for flights of its own 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 incident with the downing of a South Korean aircraft is not the 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 Soviet airspace. 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 materials of the case, it turned out that the young but capable pilot was fond of flights to the maximum range on his favorite, as he said, Cessna-172 aircraft. In 1986 alone, he flew several times to Shetland and the 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 of the 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 units of the army were put on alert # 1 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 path in the 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, which 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 systems had to perform this operation simultaneously.

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 of Torzhok, an air crash occurred on one of the aircraft of the Air Force, a search and rescue group was working 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 Central Control Center, Major General Melnikov, not having a complete description of the violating aircraft, 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. The Law of the USSR on the State Border of the USSR of November 1982 Article 36 stated: "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 civil aviation intruders is prohibited, then one can imagine the situation in which all those who led the air defense forces on duty on that ill-fated day were in.

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 sports-type aircraft 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 in World War II, 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.

Here it is useful to recall how other countries acted in similar cases. 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.

Mathias Rust, an 18-year-old German, was at the helm of the plane that landed on Red Square in 1987. A joke immediately appeared that in the center of Moscow there is now Sheremetyevo-3 Airport. The Soviet generals were no longer in the mood for jokes - many lost their posts, up to the Minister of Defense.

Matthias Rust himself, who has served time both in the USSR and at home since that time, recently in an interview with the Stern magazine called that his flight irresponsible and added that now he definitely would not repeat it. However, it cannot. The sky of Europe is still closed to him, although history itself is not closed even 25 years later.

Matthias Rust prefers to be in control. He recently returned from Latin America. There he again passed on the pilot. I flew. In Europe, Rust has not been allowed to fly a plane for 25 years.

“Sometimes I dream about that flight, usually in the afternoon when I take a nap after lunch. And if there is some free time, memories pop up on their own,” says Matthias Rust.

Rust sat on the Bolshoi Moskvoretsky Bridge. Then he drove to Vasilyevsky Spusk, willingly signed autographs, spoke, brought a letter of peace to Gorbachev. They even brought him bread and salt. And it seemed that the iron curtain was just a smoke screen, because everything was so simple.

“Flight maps were available. The KGB still didn’t want to believe me that I just ordered them, like any other road atlases. Then they themselves ordered the same maps through the Soviet embassy in Bonn and were very surprised when they received them ", - says Matthias Rust.

Here is the itinerary of an 18-year-old pilot who flew only 50 hours at that time: a long flight from Germany over the sea to the Faroe Islands, followed by Iceland (Reykjavik), Norway (Bergen), Finland (Helsinki), and then almost at random to Moscow. He followed the railroad. This part of the route is full of the most amazing coincidences. Rust's plane flew into the area of ​​the rescue operation. The bomber crashed. Lots of helicopters in the air. "Cessna" Rust is mistaken for a light-engine Soviet aircraft. Then he is once again assigned the code "I am mine." At the same time, Rust was discovered immediately after he crossed the state border and could have been shot down, including on approach to Moscow.

“We have S-300 systems, it takes a target at 100 meters. And if I launch three missiles at this shabby airplane and they explode at a height of 50-100 meters, and there will be a kindergarten under the bottom, what will I do next? It was a provocation planned 100% advantageously, "- said the commander of the Moscow Air Defense District in 1987-1989. Vladimir Tsarkov.

Tsarkov claims: Rust's flight is an operation of the Western special services. And the border violator himself is a well-trained pilot, and he has already visited Moscow in advance. Rust says: sat at random.

“Without visiting the place, it is impossible to land in such difficult conditions. What if a cable passes over the road there, it’s unknown,” said Michael Hanke, an instructor at the Pegasus Pilot School.

And although pilots of the same planes in Germany still sometimes jokingly say: "Well, let's wave to Moscow," they all understand that such an adventure would be impossible now.

In fact, the flight of Matthias Rust had practically no effect on the development of small aircraft in Europe. Influenced by the September 11 attacks. After them, a special device is installed on any aircraft, which transmits the individual aircraft identification number to ground services. That is, on the radar it is no longer just a dot, but a dot with its own unique number, that is, for example, this plane cannot be confused with any other in the air.

The Soviet court sentenced Matthias Rust to 4 years in prison. He served a little more than 14 months in an exemplary colony. After his release, his fate was not easy. He returned to Germany, but even after that he broke the law. First, an attack on a woman with a knife. Time again. Then stealing a sweater from a department store. Explains - barely making ends meet.

"It all worked out because it had to happen. It's just my destiny," says Matthias Rust.

The aircraft in which Rust made the historic flight is on display at the Technical Museum in Berlin. Here it is one of the symbols of the end of the Cold War. However, his wings are still decorated with signs resembling a bomb. There are too many questions in this story today. The materials of the pilot Rust's case are still classified.

Photo from the newspaper La Reppublica.

20 years ago, a 19-year-old boy from Germany landed his little plane a step away from the Kremlin.
"I was 19 years old, the world was divided by the Cold War. With the help of a small Cessna plane, I decided to fulfill a dream: to fly from the West directly to Red Square. As a gesture of peace: flying as a symbolic bridge between two worlds. I am Matthias Rust, the one who 20 years ago, I landed on a single-engine plane one step away from the Kremlin. I would repeat it again: sometimes a drop of youthful spontaneity can wake up the world, benefit reality."
Two decades is a long time, but he has hardly changed: the same searching look, the friendly smile of a teenager who loves adventure novels. I am sitting with him on the terrace of a cafe overlooking wealthy Hamburg, and his story brings to life a picture of those years.
It happened 20 years ago: flying in a rented pleasure plane, Matthias Rust managed to invade Soviet airspace, fly over a dozen top-secret air and missile bases, and land on Red Square. Gorbachev at that time was going through a difficult moment in dialogue with Reagan and in confrontation with the orthodox at home, but he wanted disarmament and reforms. And now the youthful frivolity of this young man, who is fond of the stories of Karl May, violated reality. More than any Pentagon statistics about the economic disaster in the USSR or the war in Afghanistan, more than any accusations of dissidents or criticism of the five-year socialist plans by the population, photos and TV reports of Rust and his tiny airplane with a German flag on the wheel, of the cheering crowd, surrounded him one step away from the Kremlin, demonstrated to the world the incapacity and deadly disease of the empire created by Stalin.
- Mr Rust, some see you as a brave pacifist, others as an irresponsible type. How and why did you decide to take this flight?
- Reflecting on this act today, I feel freedom. Then other feelings wandered in my soul. The Reagan-Gorbachev summit in Reykjavik failed, with both sides fearing a new cold snap. I thought of a symbolic gesture. Flying like a perfect bridge. To tell the leaders of both blocs that the people on both sides of the Iron Curtain just want to live in peace. Do you remember Sting's Russians song? Her spirit was just that: Russians love their children too, he sang. I believed in it.
- Was this decision taken spontaneously, or did you carefully prepare for it?
- I'm well prepared. On such an aircraft I flew over the Atlantic. I wanted to test my nerves: you know, flying over the sea for hours is a severe psychological test. On May 25, after three days of flight, I arrived in Helsinki. I decided that I would not back down.
- While flying from Helsinki to Moscow, flying over dozens of secret military facilities, you did not experience fear, one of the most natural human feelings.
- Yes, I have asked myself many times whether I am doing the right thing or not. But I was an individualist and was ready to take risks, as it happens at the age of 19: yes, I acted frivolously, but at that age you don’t think much about danger and fear. I thought only about the distance between Helsinki and Moscow and how to fly on one gas station.
- Did you make false documents?
- I submitted the flight plan to Sweden to the Finnish authorities. I took off for Helsinki and headed west. He flew at an average altitude of 600 meters, and when he was above the sea, he changed course. I headed southeast. After an hour of flight, I saw the coast of Estonia. I experienced a mixed feeling of tension and relief. I was happy: I flew to the goal. And with every minute I understood more and more clearly that it was already impossible to change my mind, to turn back. Almost five hours of flight separated me from Moscow. When I arrived, I had fuel for another two hours.
- Is it true that you flew very low so that you would not be intercepted?
- The average height is 600 meters, not so low. Of course, this is not 15 or 30 meters from the ground, as modern military aircraft fly. I didn't want to hide. The gesture of peace must be visible. I went down only a couple of times, and then only because the icing of the propeller and wings began. I constantly followed the direction of the compass, I had provisions with me, but I did not eat or drink anything. And suddenly, quite unexpectedly, a feeling of fear pierced me.
- What happened?
- I was flying in the clouds, I could hardly see anything below me, when ahead, at a distance of several kilometers, a silvery object appeared, moving quickly, aiming at me. It was a MiG, the air defense aircraft that terrified the Soviet air defense system. This was my first meeting with "them". A blow to the heart. It was very difficult to keep the nerves under control. It only lasted a few minutes, awful minutes. You know, the memories of the Boeing shot down over Sakhalin in the Andropov era were still fresh. The MiG caught up with me, flew very close, at first it was behind, then it turned out to be on the side. He had more speed than me. I noticed the pilot's gaze under the helmet. He pursued me for a short time, then accelerated and disappeared into nowhere. A few minutes seemed like an eternity to me. Again I was overcome with a mixed feeling. Relief because I wasn't shot at, and doubt and anxiety, because now I knew for sure: they knew that I was flying over their territory.
- Did you calm down when you arrived in Moscow?
- Yes. No MiGs, no air defense, no signals from the ground. Beneath me, under the small wings of the Cessna, there was a huge city, I was breathless. To get my bearings, I tried to make out the Rossiya Hotel - remember that huge white monolith near Red Square? I saw "Russia" before the Kremlin towers, and dropped the altitude.
- And than?
The sight of the square intensified the fear. From a height, it seemed to me smaller than I imagined. But in order to land on the Cessna, 200 meters would have been enough for me, I made three attempts and climbed again three times: a crowd of curious people gathered below, what was happening was like a Fellini movie. I was afraid of hurting or crushing someone. I saw the Big Stone Bridge, a wide, six-lane bridge, and I sat on it. Taxiing, I got to the square itself, drove past the temple and the monument to Minin and Pozharsky and ended up at the entrance to the Spasskaya Tower. Then I turned off the engine and sat in the cab for a long time, a full quarter of an hour.
- Why?
“Because I was wondering if I should take off again and come back. Too late, Matthias, I answered myself. There is not enough fuel. I made up my mind, opened the cockpit and went down. The crowd immediately surrounded me.
- Did you experience fear?
- No, the people didn't look hostile. They were curious, they smiled. "Where did you come from?" they asked me in English. "From Helsinki," I answered nervously. "But the German flag is on the plane, not the Finnish one. Are you a comrade from the GDR?" "No, friends, no. I'm from Germany, I flew in with a gesture of peace," I answered uncertainly. "ABOUT!" they exclaimed in surprise. They showed doubt, but not threat. The young woman broke the ice: she, smiling, went to meet me, and handed me bread and salt, greeted me in this way.
- What about the police, the KGB, the military?
- It's been almost an hour. A black "Seagull" arrived - do you remember such Russian "Cadillacs"? An officer and several young policemen came out of it. We spoke English. They were calm and polite. They asked me for documents, searched the plane. Then the passport was returned. An elderly officer said to me: "Young man, I'm the head of the Moscow police. Where the hell is your visa? Welcome, but where is your visa? You understand, this is a problem."
- When were you arrested?
- It's been a long time, I did not look at the clock. A black Volga arrived, then a truck with police: the officers set up a barrier, drove the crowd away, although people did not want to leave me. “Young man, I'm sorry, but you will have to follow us,” they told me politely. “Sit down, please. We will find out your visa history at the office.” I got into the "Volga", we arrived at the nearest police station. One of them translated into German. They clearly said in my native language: "We are from the State Security Committee." Fortunately, I did not recognize the Russian abbreviation for KGB in the German translation, otherwise I would have died of fear.
How long was the interrogation?
- Few hours. I explained that I landed on Red Square because I wanted to make a peace gesture. "In any case, he has no weapons on board," they said. They didn't want to believe, but they didn't know what to think. The police station building was very old. "Let's go, let's continue the conversation in a more convenient place, in Lefortovo," they said. I didn't know it was the central prison. They started asking harder questions. "If you hide the truth, we will find out anyway, but by doing so, you will aggravate your situation. Admit that the imperialists paid you for this provocation." “No,” I insisted, “I thought of everything myself.” They did not believe, and the interrogation continued until 4 o'clock in the morning. I was tormented by a headache, I was mortally tired, and asked to stop the interrogation. "All right, lad," they replied. "Eat something, then we'll take you to bed. But you understand, we can't take you to the hotel, as much as you'd like to."
- So life began in Lefortovo?
- Yes, I was afraid that I would not get out of there. In a few weeks I lost 10 kg. I was in a double cell. Oleksandr, my Ukrainian cellmate, was sitting at the fartsovka in the Astoria Hotel, he reassured me by reading articles from Pravda. We did not know what was going on behind the walls of the prison: a small window, located under the ceiling, was made of thick, cloudy glass. Then there was the process. Correct, no violence or threats. Regular contacts with the German embassy. The verdict of the court turned out to be harsh: 4 years in the camps. I thought this was the end. An elderly officer in uniform followed me into the cell.
- Who was that?
- Petrenko, head of the prison. He began to speak, scolding me like a father. “Listen, when I was as old as you are now, in May 1945, I served in Zhukov’s units that were taking Berlin. Together with others, I entered the Reichstag, with a red flag and a machine gun in my hands. Don’t you think that Have you Germans already done a lot of things?" “Yes, you are right,” I replied, “sorry, but I was born later, much later. Perhaps I made a mistake, but I thought only of a goodwill gesture.” Since then, he began to visit me often. We talked about the war and about the present. Then I found out that he was on the verge of retirement. And asked to postpone his retirement, because my case has not yet been settled. He came to the cell to explain this to me. "Boy, you were sentenced to labor camps, but it was decided to leave you in Lefortovo: you are safe with us. After your flight, many military men were severely punished, who can guarantee your safety if you are sent to Siberia?"
- 14 months in Lefortovo. How do you remember them?
- It was hard. I do not hold a grudge against anyone, but inside I experienced severe pain, I told myself every day: why did I do this? Why didn't I choose a normal life, study, career? My parents could visit me once every three months, sometimes officials from the consulate came. I told them: I lost 10 kg, I have anorexia, stomach cramps. Alexander supported me. And month after month, thanks to the articles from Pravda that he translated for me, I saw that the world outside the prison walls was changing: there were reports of changes in the East, of East-West detente, of blocs no longer opposing each other.
- Then amnesty?
- She was unexpected. 14 months after the verdict. How I remember that day now. It was 14:00. The guards came. They brought me clothes that I had to wear instead of prison pajamas during meetings with lawyers, parents, German diplomats. Alexander explained everything to me. “Boy, you seem to be lucky,” he said. “You don’t think that you will be taken to Siberia in these clothes?” My head was spinning as I was led into the conference room. There was a new head of the prison Rastvorov, judges Dobrovolsky and Komkov and Vera Petrovna, she was an interpreter at my trial. Komkov took out a red folder and opened it. I read out the decree: I was amnestied and had to leave Soviet territory. The decree was signed by Andrey Gromyko, at that time chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. I felt that I was alive. Mr. No signed my release!
- In Germany, you were met as a hero?
- Nu that you, began problems. Siege by the media. Hostile articles that portrayed me as a lunatic who endangered the world. I was deprived of the right to pilot, an investigation was launched against me with absurd accusations: a threat to peace or betrayal, then the case was closed. But I don't regret anything, je ne regrette rien (Edith Piaf's song "No Regrets". - Ed.). Was it a frivolous adventure? Perhaps, but I insist: sometimes youthful recklessness is part of the world. A flight marked by fears, worries about making a mistake, that it's too late to turn back? Yes. And yet I did the right thing by fulfilling my dream. Even at that terrible moment when this "MiG" flashed like a red arrow next to me in the cold sky of Russia.

When Matthias Rust approached the border of the USSR, the army leadership alerted 3 air defense units. 2 Soviet interceptor fighters took off into the sky. One pilot reported that the unidentified object is very similar to the Soviet Yak-12 (light multipurpose transport aircraft). After that, management gave up.

The pilots of the other two interceptors, who came close to the Cessna aircraft, did not see the flag of the FRG and the German registration number on it!
The military personnel of the air defense units, who noticed the plane of Matthias Rust, decided that it was controlled by a trainee who simply forgot to turn on the radar transponder.
2 more Soviet fighters intercepted the Cessna plane a little later, but also left it alone. The commander informed the pilots that flying at such a low altitude was too dangerous.
The Cessna was also spotted at the radar station, but the operator decided that it was a helicopter that was performing search and rescue work nearby. The leadership of the USSR was shocked when Matthias Rust landed his plane right in the middle of Red Square. The pilot was immediately arrested and sent to jail for 18 months.