Editing Mathias Rust (section)

{{short description|German activist, landed a plane near Red Square in Moscow in 1987}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2023}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2018}}
{{expand German|topic=bio|date=May 2020|Mathias Rust}}
{{Infobox person
|name=Mathias Rust
|image= 4134Mathias Rust (cropped).JPG
|caption=Rust in 2012
|birth_date={{birth date and age|1968|6|1|df=yes}}
|birth_place=[[Wedel]], Schleswig-Holstein, [[West Germany]]<ref> https://m.imdb.com/name/nm0751799/bio/?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm </ref>
|nationality=<!-- use only when necessary per [[WP:INFONAT]] -->
|known_for=Illegally landing a small aircraft on Moscow's [[Red Square]]
}}
'''Mathias Rust''' (born 1 June 1968)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Deutsches Rundfunkarchiv: Eine Cessna auf dem Roten Platz – Mathias Rust in Moskau |url=https://www.dra.de/de/entdecken/ueber-den-wolken/eine-cessna-auf-dem-roten-platz-mathias-rust-in-moskau |access-date=18 March 2022 |website=www.dra.de |language=de}}</ref> is a German aviator known for his flight that ended with a landing near [[Red Square]] in Moscow on 28 May 1987. Then a teenage amateur pilot, he flew from [[Helsinki]], Finland, to Moscow, without authorization. According to Russian claims<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/air-space-magazine/the-notorious-flight-of-mathias-rust-7101888/ | title=The Notorious Flight of Mathias Rust }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.armscontrolwonk.com/archive/604381/a-cessna-sized-hole-in-the-iron-curtain-revisited/ | title=A Cessna-sized Hole in the Iron Curtain, Revisited }}</ref> he was tracked several times by [[Soviet Air Defence Forces]] and civilian [[air traffic control|air traffic controllers]], as well as [[Soviet Air Force]] interceptor aircraft. The Soviet fighters did not receive permission to shoot him down, and his aeroplane was mistaken for a friendly aircraft several times. Also, 28 May 1987 was [[Border Guards Day]], leaving many guards distracted.<ref name="guardianmay14" /> He landed on [[Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge]], next to Red Square near the [[Kremlin]] in the capital of the [[Soviet Union|USSR]].

Rust said he wanted to create an "imaginary bridge" to [[Eastern Bloc|the East]], and that his flight was intended to reduce tension and suspicion between the two [[Cold War]] sides.<ref name="airspacemag">{{cite magazine |last=LeCompte |first=Tom |date=July 2005 |title=The Notorious Flight of Mathias Rust |url=http://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/the-notorious-flight-of-mathias-rust-7101888/?all |magazine=[[Air & Space/Smithsonian]] |location=Washington, D.C. |access-date=4 April 2009}}</ref><ref name="BBCNews">{{cite news |last=Hadjimatheou |first=Chloe |date=7 December 2012 |title=Mathias Rust: German teenager who flew to Red Square |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20609795 |publisher=[[BBC World Service]] |access-date=17 March 2014}}</ref>  Rust was sentenced to four years in a general-regime labour camp for violation of [[border crossing]] and [[air traffic]] regulations, and for provoking an emergency situation upon his landing. After 14 months in prison, he was [[pardon]]ed by [[Andrei Gromyko]], the [[Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet]], and released.<ref name="airspacemag" /><ref name="BBCNews" />

Rust's flight through a supposedly impenetrable air defence system had a great effect on the Soviet military and resulted in the dismissal of many senior officers, including [[Minister of Defence (Soviet Union)|Minister of Defence]] Marshal of the USSR [[Sergey Leonidovich Sokolov|Sergei Sokolov]] and the Commander-in-Chief of the [[Soviet Air Defence Forces]], former [[World War II]] fighter [[Flying ace|pilot ace]] Chief Marshal [[Alexander Koldunov]]. The incident aided [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] in the implementation of [[Perestroika|his reforms]], by allowing him to dismiss numerous military officials opposed to his policies.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Miller |first1=Chris |title=The Struggle to Save the Soviet Economy |date=2016 |publisher=The University of North Carolina Press |page=153}}</ref>