BERLIN — The German government on Tuesday blamed Russia for an attempted attack at Leipzig/Halle Airport last month using a drone laden with explosives, and announced that it would shut down a Russian consulate among other measures.
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.
Western officials have accused Russia of running a campaign of sabotage and disruption to try to undermine support for Ukraine and destabilize European nations.
German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said authorities found elements such as the drone configuration, components, explosives and detonator that are “known to us from other Russian hybrid operations and its war against Ukraine.” He said the device pointed to “a high degree of technical expertise” and painstaking planning, but carrying out the plan appears to have been left to “low-level” agents.
Dobrindt said that intelligence points to “people being involved who acted on behalf of Russian state entities,” though he didn’t specify which ones. “Taken together, the police investigations, the pattern and intelligence findings prove a Russian responsibility for the attempted attack at Leipzig airport.”
Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said that “with the attempted attack in Leipzig, the Russian leadership decided deliberately to do significant damage again to our already massively burdened bilateral relationship.” 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 he did not say when.
Germany will propose adding more people from Russia to European Union sanctions lists, step up entry controls for people from Russia and increase “pressure on the shadow fleet,” a reference to tankers suspected of shipping Russian oil in violation of international sanctions, Wadephul said. The European Union has sanctioned hundreds of “shadow fleet” ships.
Wadephul later told ARD television that “Germany can at any time show a stronger reaction, [but] that is not necessary at this point.”
The Russian ambassador was summoned to the Foreign Ministry in Berlin.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said there would be a “fitting response” to the planned closures, Russian state news agency Tass reported. She rejected claims of Russian involvement in the attempted drone attack, calling them a “far-fetched and contrived pretext” for Berlin to escalate tensions and arguing that “as usual, no convincing or serious evidence has been presented whatsoever.”
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. It is also home to NATO’s Strategic Airlift International Solution, which delivers equipment to NATO battle groups along its eastern flank from Finland to Romania and supports EU and alliance nation missions.
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 was organized by Russian intelligence.
European allies rallied around Germany after Tuesday’s announcement. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said in a post on X that he had spoken with Chancellor Friedrich Merz and “NATO stands in full solidarity with Germany after the Russian hybrid attack in Leipzig.”
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