On May 28, 1987, one of the most extraordinary incidents of the late Soviet era unfolded in the heart of Moscow. On Soviet Border Guards Day, when the country’s security system was expected to be especially alert, a small single-engine Cessna aircraft landed near Red Square. At the controls was not a spy, a military pilot, or a participant in a secret operation, but an 18-year-old West German amateur pilot named Mathias Rust.
