Parents to See Young Pilot Who Landed Plane Near Red Square

The parents of teen-age pilot Mathias Rust arrived in Moscow on Monday to meet their imprisoned son for the first time since he stunned the world by landing a light plane near the Kremlin Wall.

A West German Embassy spokesman said that Monika and Karl-Heinz Rust of Hamburg will see their son today, accompanied by embassy consular affairs officer Gerhard Schroembgens.

Rust, 19, has been held in Moscow’s Lefortovo military prison since May 28, when he landed a light plane just off Red Square after flying unhindered to Moscow from Helsinki, Finland.

His parents arrived from Duesseldorf after receiving visas valid for three days from the Soviet Consulate in Hamburg.

Soviet Foreign Ministry spokesman Gennady I. Gerasimov denied reports from Bonn that the Rusts would be received at the ministry, and he said that ministry officials will not accompany them during the visit to their son.

“The parents arrived on their own,” he said.

Rust, who has not been charged, faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of violating Soviet airspace.

His 500-mile flight over Soviet territory and landing just short of Red Square brought a swift response from the Kremlin, which retired its defense minister and fired its air defense commander on May 30.

The Soviet public prosecutor’s office has been questioning Rust at Lefortovo in an effort to establish a motive for his flight. Soviet officials have suggested he is likely to go on trial once the investigation is completed.