Mathias Rust (born 1 June 1968) is a German
aviator known for his illegal landing near
Red Square in
Moscow on 28 May 1987. An amateur pilot, he flew from
Helsinki,
Finland to Moscow, being tracked several times by Soviet air defense and interceptors. The Soviet fighters never received permission to shoot him down, and several times he was mistaken for a friendly aircraft. He landed on Vasilevsky Descent next to Red Square near the
Kremlin in the capital of the
Soviet Union.