Previous deterrence measures implemented by Brussels against Russia have so far failed to prevent it from carrying out attacks against European countries, intensifying the threat the country poses to the bloc, Lithuanian Foreign Affairs Minister Kęstutis Budrys told Euronews.
His comments come days after Germany attributed the presence of a drone rigged with explosives near a Ukrainian Antonov cargo aircraft at Leipzig/Halle Airport, which plays a key role in the transport of military goods, to Russia. The Kremlin has rejected these accusations.
While Budrys applauded Berlin's response to the incident, which involved handing Germany's intelligence services greater powers to counter attacks, he argued the overall response from the European Union has fallen short.
"The German services, security intelligence services, they acted really quickly, they prevented this plot, this state terrorism act, and they attributed it to the country and the services responsible for it, so it is a good sign that we have [these] capabilities," the Lithuanian minister said on Euronews' interview programme 12 Minutes with.
However, he argued that the Leipzig operation — the latest in a string of attempted attacks and suspected acts of sabotage by Russia against EU countries in recent months — showed that the measures taken so far to combat threats posed by the Kremlin were insufficient.
