What happen to that 19 year old kid Matthias Rust who flew that plane
into the Red Square?  I know that he serve 18 months before being
released.  My question is what is he doing today.  I thought he did
something stupid a few years back bragging about how he did not stunt
at a bar or something to impress the ladies. What was that story about
and what is he doing now?

Hello Leskowitz and thank you for your question.

My search returned the many interesting results on the life of Mathias
Rust after the flying into the Red Square incident in 1987. Although I
was not able to identify an exact incident relating to “impressing the
ladies”, Mathias has many other unpleasant confrontations with the law
which are shown below.

An article dated May 28, 2002 states that Mathias Rust now lives in
Germany, where he was convicted last year of shoplifting.

Source: technology and Society Website
http://www.tecsoc.org/pubs/history/2002/may28.htm

According to the article “German Daredevil Grounded by Court” by Kate
Connolly dated April 21, 2001 in the Guardian, Mathias Rust was
convicted of shoplifting by a German court.
Here are a number of excerpts discussing his life in these last years.

1991

“In 1991 he was sentenced by a Hamburg court to two-and-a-half years
in prison for stabbing a student nurse who had refused to kiss him at
the hospital where he was doing his civil service. Rust was given a
lenient sentence for the stabbing because of the traumatic 432 days he
had already served in a Russian labour camp for his flying escapade.

The incident that you refer to in your question “something stupid a
few years back bragging about how he did not stunt at a bar or
something to impress the ladies” may be related to the following:

“He was released early and later returned to Moscow, where he tried
and failed to rekindle the attention he had received years before.”

1996

“False rumours of his death had begun to emerge from Moscow when he
reappeared suddenly in 1996 in a court near Hamburg. Although he had
allegedly made a fortune from his aviation exploit, he was filing for
bankruptcy, claiming he could not pay the costs of a newspaper libel
trial he had lost.”

1996-1997

“Less than five months later, his money problems were apparently
solved when he converted to Hinduism and got engaged to the daughter
of a rich Indian tea merchant.”

2000

“Rust was fined £3,300 for the theft last November of a £60 cashmere
pullover from a Hamburg department store, in what the judge condemned
as a "brazen act".”

2001 to the present

“Rust now lives in Berlin with his wife, works in a grocery store and
thinks often of his Russian adventure.”

Source: The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4173514,00.html

1994-1997

“In 1994, Rust returned to Russia to visit an orphanage, and dropped
out of sight. He was spotted again in 1997 selling shoes in Moscow.”
http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/2000/07/06/p23s3.htm

Mathias Rust is the coordinator of “Orion and Isis – for a peaceful
world”. You can read about this at his webpage at the following link.
You may also email Mathias about this new endeavor by choosing
“contact us.”
http://www.mathiasrust.com/englisch/indexe.htm

Search Criteria:
Mathias Rust +Russia

I hope you find this helpful.

Best regards,
Bobbie7-ga

Well worth $2.50.  It was bothering me.  It was that stabbing the
nurse thing he did that was stupid.  However, if I remember right on
that incident he was spouting off something to the effect that he
should be kissed because he flew was famous for flying to Russia.  She
refused and he stabbed her.  What a loser.  I think I will pay him
$2.00 to clarify; it looks like he needs the money.
Thanks,
Paul