Spectacular landing by West German amateur pilot Matthias Rust in a Cessna in Moscow’s Red Square. He has been able to fly from Finland through 800 kilometres of Soviet airspace without hindrance.
Defence Minister Sergei Sokolov is pensioned off, and the head of air defence, Alexander Koldunov, is removed from his position. Rust is sentenced on 4 September 1987 to four years in a labour camp, but is pardoned in August 1988.
On 4 June, the Soviet party and state leader Mikhail Gorbachev feels obliged to inform SED leader Erich Honecker about the failure of the Soviet air defence system. He says that air defence departments had "shown elementary carelessness, rigidity and a lack of organisation in this situation." Remorsefully, Gorbachev goes on: "Cooperation between the troops did not function (…), what is more, the heads of the central command and control did not find it necessary to alarm the strong air defence system for the direct security of Moscow." He sees the "decisive reason for the incident" as being the "lack of appropriate alertness and discipline, the violation of the relevant regulations in troop leadership, and the insufficient responsibility taken by a number of officers and generals."
Letter from CPSU General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev to SED General Secretary Erich Honecker, 4 June 1987 (in German)less
29/30 May
1987
Meeting of party leaders from the Warsaw Pact states in East Berlin. For the first time, a statement on the military doctrine of the Warsaw Pact is issued, which publicly declares that the military alliance is solely defensive in nature. The Soviet party and state leader Mikhail Gorbachev intends it to underline the fact that his disarmament policies are meant seriously.
A brotherly kiss as greeting: Mikhail Gorbachev and Erich Honecker on 27 May (1987 Photo: Herbert Proepper/akg-images/AP 1RD-385-F1987-5)
