Police forensic technicians work near a Ukrainian aircraft at Leipzig/Halle Airport, where a drone with an explosive device was found and a detonator was removed from the object, in Schkeuditz, Germany, Wednesday Aug. 5, 2026.
Hendrik Schmidt/DPA via AP
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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.
Moscow has been widely accused by Western officials of running a campaign of sabotage and disruption with the aim of undermining support for Ukraine and destabilizing 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.
A forensic technician works alongside a bomb-disposal robot near a Ukrainian aircraft at Leipzig/Halle Airport, where a drone with an explosive device was found and a detonator was removed from the object, in Schkeuditz, Germany, Wednesday Aug. 5, 2026.
Hendrik Schmidt/DPA via AP
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Dobrindt told reporters 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 that may take some time.
Germany will propose the addition of more people from Russia to European Union sanctions lists "in the context of hybrid attacks," 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 EU has sanctioned hundreds of "shadow fleet" ships.
The Russian ambassador was summoned to the foreign ministry in Berlin.
Wadephul later told ARD television that "Germany can at any time show a stronger reaction, (but) that is not necessary at this point."
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."
Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed Berlin's allegations, instead claiming that Germany's leadership sought to use the incident to distract from their own failings and dissatisfaction among voters with "the need to counter an aggressive Russia."
"But where is the proof? Well, the proof has been planted," Putin told reporters in the early hours of Wednesday in Kyrgyzstan, where he attended a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. He didn't elaborate on why he thinks the proof has been planted, nor did he offer evidence.
