Germany blames Russia for Leipzig drone plot, vows retaliation

Germany to close last Russian consulate, tighten entry rules

Germany accused Russia on Tuesday of being behind a plot to send explosive-laden drones to Leipzig airport last month and pledged to retaliate against Moscow, a rare public attribution of blame in a widening campaign of incursions and sabotage across NATO territory. Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt announced the findings of an investigation into the incident at the airport, saying Russia was responsible.

“We do not consider ourselves at war but we are the daily target of hybrid warfare,” Dobrindt said.

In response, the German government said it would close the last Russian consulate in the country, summon the Russian ambassador and tighten restrictions on Russians entering Germany. Berlin also said it would push for tighter European Union sanctions against Russian shadow fleet vessels and an expansion of the bloc’s sanctions against Russians involved in hybrid attacks.

Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said of the Leipzig incident, in which a drone was found near Ukrainian-owned cargo planes: “The means used — such as the drone configuration, components, explosives and detonation systems — are known to us from other hybrid operations by Russia and its war against Ukraine.”

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said the evidence was clear that Russia had conducted a hybrid attack on the airport. “Russia’s attempts to intimidate us, to undermine our unity and our willingness to support Ukraine are futile and will fail,” he wrote on X. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she had spoken to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz about “this attack by Russia” and that sanctions and other measures would be prepared in response.

The drone incident marked a serious escalation in what European security and military officials have described as Moscow’s probing attacks on NATO defenses. Had it caused an explosion deep inside German territory, it could have amounted to an act of war.

German police early last month found an explosive-laden drone on the tarmac in an area of Leipzig airport used by Ukrainian-owned cargo planes that have flown military goods to Ukraine. Another drone, also carrying explosives, was found in a nearby field 10 days later, German media has reported. U.S. officials told The Wall Street Journal that Russia was likely behind the plot.

Germany’s decision to hold Russia accountable is unusual. Despite an intensifying drumbeat of sabotage attempts, drone incursions and cyberattacks on critical infrastructure in recent years, NATO members have generally stopped short of directly accusing the Kremlin. European governments have also been wary of escalating hostilities with Moscow, but Berlin’s move indicated an increasing willingness to call Russia out for attacks, including arson, that are sowing fear across the continent.

Earlier in the day, NATO jet fighters scrambled in response to drones entering Estonian airspace, said the country’s foreign minister, Margus Tsahkna, who blamed Russia’s war on Ukraine for the latest aerial incursion on the alliance’s eastern flank. “Putin’s campaign of sabotage and subversion across Europe isn’t ‘hybrid warfare’. It is state-sponsored terrorism. Call it what it is,” Tsahkna wrote on X, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Kremlin didn’t respond to repeated requests for comment. Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for the Kremlin, has described allegations that Moscow is behind gray zone attacks as untrue and a pretext for Europe to boost its military stance against Russia.

The Leipzig episode follows other incidents in which Russia’s involvement was alleged but not directly attributed by leaders. When a Romanian jet destroyed a naval drone in the waters close to Romania’s Black Sea gas platform in mid-August, the country’s president condemned “the intensification of these types of irresponsible incidents on the part of the Russian Federation” without directly accusing Russia. Von der Leyen also refrained from pointing the finger at Moscow over that drone.

Lithuanian law-enforcement officials last year accused Moscow of sending explosive packages by air across Europe, in what they described as “terrorist attacks.” One of four packages detonated and ignited in Leipzig airport, the same facility where the drones were recently found. Accusing 16 alleged conspirators in September, Lithuanian prosecutors said the unsuccessful attacks were organized and coordinated by Russian citizens “with links to and connections with the military intelligence services of the Russian Federation.”

This summer, as Russia has struggled to advance on the battlefield, European authorities have linked Moscow to a spate of drone incursions, acts of sabotage, cyberattacks and other hostile actions across the continent. In July, Dutch intelligence agencies warned that “Russian state actors are systematically conducting digital espionage” by hacking web-linked cameras to spy on aid to Ukraine.

The tempo of documented Russia-backed incidents has increased from a maximum of around 10 in many months since 2024 to around 15 a month since April, according to Ukraine’s Sahaidachnyi Security Center, which tracks Russian gray zone activities in Europe. Sahaidachnyi analysts say trends can be difficult to discern because many incidents suspected of being linked to Russia aren’t included in their data.

German government officials have said the unusually serious nature of the drone incident in Leipzig meant that the reaction had to be more than symbolic, even if it triggered a counter-reaction by Moscow. Germany is in the midst of a rapid rearmament effort, but analysts say it won’t be ready to fight a conventional war with Russia before 2029. Berlin expelled a Russian diplomat in January after arresting a woman suspected of spying for Moscow. So far, about 80 Russian diplomats have been expelled from Germany since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.