Twenty years ago Monday, a nineteen-year-old West German named Mathias Rust shocked the world by landing a rented Cessna 172B near Moscow’s Red Square following a six-hour flight from Helsinki.

As this article in today’s Moscow Times notes, the last two decades have been almost as tumultuous for Rust as they have been for Russia. Since being pardoned and released from Soviet prison in August 1988, Rust has been twice divorced and thrice arrested (for fraud, petty theft, and attempted murder). He now makes his living as a professional poker player.

Although I’m not going to make the trip via Cessna, I’ll be landing in Moscow myself late next week. I’ll be there through early July conducting archival and field research in support of two new book projects. I’ve still got lots of packing and organizing to do in advance of my departure, so things may continue to be quiet around here for the next week and a half or so. However, once I’ve arrived and have established some degree of internet connectivity, I expect to post field reports on a more regular basis.

ScP