Bonn Scolds Rust for Lack of Remorse About Flight

The West German government today rebuked Mathias Rust for not being more remorseful about his daredevil flight to Moscow’s Red Square last year and for selling his story to a magazine.

“It would have been better if Rust had stated immediately after his return that such an act should never again be performed,” said government spokesman Norbert Schaefer.

He called Rust’s May, 1987, flight to Moscow an act of “huge stupidity” and said other young pilots should not be given the impression they could get away with duplicating it.

Schaefer also criticized the West German news magazine Stern for ushering Rust away after his return without allowing other journalists to interview him. Stern has an exclusive contract with Rust for his story.

“The federal government is able to imagine better behavior than this,” Schaefer said at a press conference.

Rust was flown back to West Germany on Wednesday after the Kremlin cut short the four-year prison term he received for landing in Red Square.

In an interview on his flight from Moscow, Rust said he only partly regrets his stunt and maintained that it improved relations between his country and the Soviet Union.

The 20-year-old pilot returned today to his family home in Wedel, near Hamburg. He had been in seclusion with his family and Stern editorial staffers at an undisclosed location since his arrival in West Germany.

‘Act Responsibly’

In comments published today in the Munich-based magazine Bunte, Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher warned West Germans against glorifying Rust’s flight, asking them to “act responsibly, and not celebrate false heroism.”

Bunte quoted Genscher as saying that the Soviet Union had not asked for any compensation for releasing Rust and that West Germany had not offered any.

Rust faces two investigations, one of them by licensing officials and another by a prosecutor looking into possible criminal charges of fraud and endangering air traffic.