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Article: Soviets Free W. German Who Buzzed Kremlin
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- August 4, 1988
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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West German pilot Mathias Rust, who triggered a major shake-up in
the Soviet defense establishment 14 months ago after flying
undetected to the Kremlin's doorstep, returned to his native country
today after the Soviet Union suddenly freed him from prison.
A regularly scheduled Lufthansa jet carried Rust from Moscow to
Frankfurt just hours after the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet
ordered him released in what the official Soviet news agency Tass
termed an act of "humaneness."
The action cut short a four-year prison sentence handed down 11
months ago to the aviator, now 20, whose flight from Helsinki,
Finland, to Red Square in the heart of Moscow in May 1987 led to the
ouster of defense ...