Originally Posted by
ChrisJ800
That is the same air defense that let a Cessna land in Red Square!
Mathias Rust was tracked successfully, Soviet AD assumed it was one of theirs for a time, apparently. The aircraft that intercepted him were never given orders to shoot him down, due, it seems, to some cock-ups within the Soviet command structure. Several officers were sacked or disciplined afterwards, according to the Wiki entry:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathias_Rust
I think there is probably a valid point regarding the command structure and competence of Russian forces in general, though. One stand out feature of this war has been poor decision making, coupled with poor intelligence, compounded by poor training and equipment. I can't help but wonder if Russia (and the former Soviet Union) has always had this issue. We saw signs of less than stellar performance and tactics by them in Afghanistan, and a few other skirmishes in recent years. They certainly play dirty by modern Western standards, but there often seems to be an absence of joined up tactical thinking by senior commanders.