Flier Revealed Soviet Defects, Red Star Says

MOSCOW — Red Star, the newspaper of the Soviet armed forces, said Thursday that a young West German’s flight into Moscow has underscored shortcomings in the Defense Ministry, but at the same time the Foreign Ministry showed an uncommonly lighthearted attitude toward the incident.

The military publication said that “serious deficiencies, many of which unfortunately exist in the army and the fleet,” were brought “vividly to light” when Mathias Rust, 19, of Hamburg, flew a light plane into Moscow on June 28 and landed in Red Square.

Within 48 hours, Defense Minister Sergei L. Sokolov and Chief Marshal Alexander I. Koldunov, head of the air defense forces, were dismissed.

“Combat duty demands constant composure, mobilization, preparedness for decisive action and the knowledge of how to make full use of technology to stop any encroachment on the security of the motherland,” Red Star said.

It added that complacency in the military must be eliminated and called for “the perfection of military preparedness, increased vigilance and a radical improvement of military discipline.”

The Rust incident, Red Star continued, shows that the military has not been taking heed of the reforms advocated by Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev.

Meanwhile, Gennady I. Gerasimov, the chief spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, joked about the incident at his regular daily briefing for the press.

First, though, he talked seriously about Rust, who is still being interrogated at Lefortovo military prison. He noted that Bonn has apologized for the violation of Soviet airspace, and he indicated that the incident will not affect the Soviet Union’s diplomatic relations with West Germany.

Then, after suggesting that Rust might have had information about Soviet air defenses and therefore had a serious purpose, Gerasimov seemed to imply that the West German had undertaken the flight for personal gain.

An Adman’s Stunt?

One version of the incident, he said, is that “the Cessna company conceived all that for advertising purposes.”

Gerasimov confirmed that Rust’s parents have applied for permission to visit him. And he said that Stern, a news magazine printed in Hamburg, has contracted for Rust’s story of the flight.