Just under a month after three drones were discovered in quick succession at Leipzig airport, the German government took the unexpected step of publicly naming the country behind the incidents. Standing alongside foreign minister Johann Wadephul on Tuesday afternoon, the German minister of the interior, Alexander Dobrindt, announced: ‘The German government has concluded that Russia is responsible for the hybrid attack in Leipzig on 4 August.’
According to Dobrindt, the German government was able to conclusively determine Russia’s involvement thanks both to a police investigation and findings made by the intelligence services. The incidents, he said, also bore the hallmarks of previous hybrid attacks attributed to Russia – both in terms of the type of drones used and the fact that ‘low-level agents’, potentially hired remotely via the internet, were tasked with carrying them out. With high numbers of diplomats and envoys expelled by various European governments following the invasion of Ukraine, Russia has increasingly relied on untrained third parties, recruited remotely, to carry out such acts.
Leipzig pushes the boundary between Russian chaos-sowing and strategic sabotage
The details of the incident on 4 August are alarming. The first drone, equipped with an explosive device, was found at Leipzig close to an Antonov cargo plane. Expressing solidarity with the German government yesterday, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen confirmed that the explosives found on the drone were ‘military-grade’. Only a faulty detonator stopped it from exploding near the plane – believed to have been carrying ammunition for Ukraine – and causing huge damage or loss of life. A second drone is believed to have collided with another cargo plane nearby, while a third drone was found near the airport ten days later.
