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Berlin has blamed Russia for an attempted drone “attack” at Leipzig airport last month.
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In a press conference on Tuesday, German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said an assessment of the incident “fits the known pattern of Russian hybrid operations in Europe.”
NATO member Germany, which supports Ukraine in its fight against Russia, has long accused Moscow of targeting it with a campaign of hybrid attacks involving espionage and sabotage, claims the Kremlin has rejected.
Germany has for months reported suspicious drone sightings over military and industrial sites, but an incident at Leipzig/Halle Airport on the night of 4-5 August raised the alarm as a drone found there carried explosives.
Police used a robot to defuse the device found near a Ukrainian cargo plane. Another drone was reportedly discovered weeks later near the airport, also with traces of an explosive substance.
The airport in eastern Germany plays a key role in the transport of military goods, including by the German military and NATO allies, and also serves as a base for Ukraine’s Antonov Airlines.
Germany’s Foreign Minister, Johann Wadephul, announced on Tuesday that Berlin would be taking action against Russia “as the perpetrator of the hybrid attack in Leipzig.”
Wadephul said Russia’s consulate in Bonn and its Berlin cultural centre would be closed as part of the German government’s response to the incident.
“The Russian general consulate in Bonn will be closed by 18 September,” he said, adding that there would also be tighter border controls for Russian nationals going forward and increased pressure on Russia’s shadow fleet.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz previously said Germany had increasingly “found itself in the crosshairs of hybrid attackers.”
But Berlin had initially refrained from blaming Russia for the incident while speaking only of the possible involvement of “foreign powers.”
Merz had warned on 25 August that the perpetrators of hybrid attacks against Germany would “pay for them,” without naming a target.
The Russian House of Science and Culture in Berlin, a seven-story building opened in 1984 in what was then East Berlin, is located near the Russian embassy.
Conservative lawmaker and security policy expert Roderich Kiesewetter recently told Welt TV that the facility is assumed to be a hub for espionage.
He said more than 100 people lived there “with no one knowing who they are” and the building’s power consumption is disproportionately high.
It was “presumably filled with technical surveillance equipment”, he said, and used by “people who are not well-disposed toward Germany.”
Europe reacts
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a post on X that she had spoken with Merz about the Leipzig incident on Tuesday morning.
“I assured him that the EU stands in full solidarity with Germany in the face of this attack by Russia,” she wrote, adding that she would also discuss the issue with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Wednesday.
Speaking after a meeting of European Union defence ministers in Ireland earlier in the day, Kaja Kallas, the bloc’s top diplomat, said Moscow was hitting Europe with increasing “kinetic hybrid attacks.”
“With this, Russia wants to scare us away from supporting Ukraine. They will not succeed,” she said.
“We will increase our support to Ukraine and invest in our own defence,” she continued, adding that the EU was “planning the most far-reaching sanctions against Russia yet.”
This is a developing story. Check back here for further details.
Additional sources • AFP
