{"id":1181316,"date":"2026-09-01T22:10:21","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T22:10:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1181316\/"},"modified":"2026-09-01T22:10:21","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T22:10:21","slug":"germany-blames-russia-for-attempted-drone-attack-at-leipzig-airport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1181316\/","title":{"rendered":"Germany blames Russia for attempted drone attack at Leipzig airport"},"content":{"rendered":"

BERLIN (AP) \u2014 The German government on Tuesday blamed Russia for an attempted attack at Leipzig\/Halle Airport last month using a drone laden with explosives<\/a>, and announced that it would shut down a Russian consulate among other measures.<\/p>\n

The drone was found near a Ukrainian plane on Aug. 4 and the device was defused. German officials said at the time that the incident posed a new level of danger.<\/p>\n

Moscow has been widely accused by Western officials of running a campaign of sabotage and disruption with the aim of undermining support for Ukraine and destabilizing European nations.<\/p>\n

Minister says evidence points to a familiar pattern<\/p>\n

German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said authorities found elements such as the drone configuration, components, explosives and detonator that are \u201cknown to us from other Russian hybrid operations and its war against Ukraine.\u201d He said the device pointed to \u201ca high degree of technical expertise\u201d and painstaking planning, but carrying out the plan appears to have been left to \u201clow-level\u201d agents.<\/p>\n

Dobrindt told reporters that intelligence points to \u201cpeople being involved who acted on behalf of Russian state entities,\u201d though he didn\u2019t specify which ones. \u201cTaken together, the police investigations, the pattern and intelligence findings prove a Russian responsibility for the attempted attack at Leipzig airport.\u201d <\/p>\n

Germany will shut a Russian consulate<\/p>\n

Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said that \u201cwith the attempted attack in Leipzig, the Russian leadership decided deliberately to do significant damage again to our already massively burdened bilateral relationship.\u201d He said the Russian consulate in Bonn will be closed effective Sept. 18. The Russian House cultural center in Berlin also will be closed, though that may take some time.<\/p>\n

Germany will propose the addition of more people from Russia to European Union sanctions lists \u201cin the context of hybrid attacks,\u201d step up entry controls for people from Russia and increase \u201cpressure on the shadow fleet,\u201d a reference to tankers suspected of shipping Russian oil in violation of international sanctions, Wadephul said. The EU has sanctioned hundreds of \u201cshadow fleet\u201d<\/a> ships.<\/p>\n

The Russian ambassador was summoned to the foreign ministry in Berlin. <\/p>\n

Wadephul later told ARD television that \u201cGermany can at any time show a stronger reaction, (but) that is not necessary at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said there would be a \u201cfitting response\u201d to the planned closures, Russian state news agency Tass reported.<\/p>\n

She rejected claims of Russian involvement in the attempted drone attack, calling them a \u201cfar-fetched and contrived pretext\u201d for Berlin to escalate tensions and arguing that \u201cas usual, no convincing or serious evidence has been presented whatsoever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed Berlin\u2019s allegations, instead claiming that Germany\u2019s leadership sought to use the incident to distract from their own failings and dissatisfaction among voters with \u201cthe need to counter an aggressive Russia.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cBut where is the proof? Well, the proof has been planted,\u201d Putin told reporters in the early hours of Wednesday in Kyrgyzstan, where he attended a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. He didn\u2019t elaborate on why he thinks the proof has been planted, nor did he offer evidence.<\/p>\n

Around 200 incidents blamed on Russia<\/p>\n

Leipzig\/Halle is a major hub for international freight and for providing support to Ukraine. The planes that regularly use it include Ukrainian Antonov transport aircraft.<\/p>\n

It is also home to NATO\u2019s Strategic Airlift International Solution, or SALIS, which is currently operational almost every day in delivering equipment to NATO battle groups along its eastern flank from Finland to Romania and supporting EU and alliance nation missions. <\/p>\n

In 2024, an incendiary device ignited at a logistics center at the airport and set fire to a freight container before it could be loaded onto a cargo plane, part of a plot that Western security officials suspect<\/a> was organized by Russian intelligence. <\/p>\n

The Associated Press has tracked around 200 incidents of sabotage and malign activity<\/a> across Europe blamed on Russia by Western officials since the invasion of Ukraine. <\/p>\n

That includes organizing plots to set fire to warehouses<\/a>, launching drones<\/a> and trying to kill enemies abroad<\/a> as well as stealing defense technology<\/a> and carrying out cyberattacks on critical European infrastructure.<\/a><\/p>\n

In May, Putin responded to the AP findings and said Moscow is not waging a sabotage campaign<\/a> against Europe. He demanded that AP \u201cname one proven fact.\u201d<\/p>\n

Russia has faced many packages of EU sanctions<\/p>\n

The EU has slapped almost two dozen packages of sanctions on Russia over its war in Ukraine, targeting roughly 3,000 people and entities. EU foreign ministers will meet in Ireland Wednesday. <\/p>\n

European allies rallied around Germany after Tuesday\u2019s announcement. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said in a post on X that he had spoken with Chancellor Friedrich Merz and \u201cNATO stands in full solidarity with Germany after the Russian hybrid attack in Leipzig.\u201d<\/p>\n

In mid-August, the German Cabinet approved plans to give the country\u2019s intelligence services<\/a> broader powers for actions such as disabling sabotage and hacking attempts. The planned reform, which had been in the works for months, still requires parliamentary approval.<\/p>\n

Hours before Tuesday\u2019s German statement, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who has frequently warned that Russia is carrying out a campaign of sabotage against NATO countries, said Poland has been targeted by new acts of sabotage including arson within the past \u201cdozens of hours.\u201d<\/p>\n

He spoke the day after a fire broke out at WB Electronics, which the Polish government has described as Europe\u2019s biggest drone manufacturer.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors said Monday they launched an investigation based on suspicions of the \u201cparticipation of foreign intelligence activities against the Republic of Poland,\u201d without elaborating on what country might be responsible. They said the fire in Skar\u017cysko-Kamienna destroyed warehouse facilities and caused damage estimated at at least 15 million zlotys ($4 million).<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Katie Marie Davies in Manchester, England, Emma Burrows in London, and Vanessa Gera in Warsaw contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BERLIN (AP) \u2014 The German government on Tuesday blamed Russia for an attempted attack at Leipzig\/Halle Airport last…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1181317,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[7655],"tags":[10592,5898,299,1699,12264,1945,4179,1824,36201,8614,29135,118571,16257,2992,8617,2301,56247,285,332,7659,26933,657,333,7660,263],"class_list":["post-1181316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-russia","tag-alexander-dobrindt","tag-donald-tusk","tag-europe","tag-european-union","tag-fires","tag-friedrich-merz","tag-general-news","tag-germany","tag-germany-government","tag-international-agreements","tag-johann-wadephul","tag-leipzig","tag-maria-zakharova","tag-mark-rutte","tag-military-and-defense","tag-moscow","tag-north-atlantic-treaty-organization","tag-politics","tag-russia","tag-russia-government","tag-sanctions-and-embargoes","tag-ukraine","tag-vladimir-putin","tag-war-and-unrest","tag-world-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117198076153774142","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1181316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1181316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1181316\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1181317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1181316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1181316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1181316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}