After multiple incidents involving explosives and drone incursions on German airports, media reports suggested that the federal government was prepared to officially blame Russia.
German media reported Tuesday that the government was set to formally blame Russia for an incident involving an explosive-laden drone at a strategic airport last month.
Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul and Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt were expected to address the media later in the day, according to Bild daily, news site Der Spiegel and other media.
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 — charges denied by Russia.
Germany has for months reported suspicious drone sightings over military and industrial sites, but the Leipzig incident on the night of August 4th to 5th raised the alarm as a drone found there carried explosives.
Police used a robot to defuse the device found near a Ukrainian cargo plane, and another drone was reportedly found 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.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz later said Germany had increasingly “found itself in the crosshairs of hybrid attackers”.
But Berlin has so far refrained from blaming Russia while speaking only of the possible involvement of “foreign powers”.
Tuesday’s media reports said Berlin would now point the finger at a Russian intelligence agency.
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Merz had warned on August 25th that the perpetrators of hybrid attacks against Germany would “pay for them”, without naming a target.
Der Spiegel said possible countermeasures could include the expulsion of Russian diplomats and the closure of Russia’s consulate in Bonn.
There has also been much discussion of whether Germany should shut down a Russian cultural centre in Berlin that security services believe is an intelligence hub.
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”.
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