Germany Blames Russia for Explosive Drones Sent to Leipzig Airport

In rare move, Berlin said it would retaliate for the incident last month

BERLIN—Germany accused Russia of being behind a plot to send explosive drones to a German airport last month and pledged to retaliate against Moscow, a rare public attribution of blame in the widening campaign of incursions and sabotage across NATO territory. 

“We do not consider ourselves at war but we are the daily target of hybrid warfare,” said German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, announcing the findings Tuesday from an investigation into the incident at Germany’s Leipzig airport last month, for which he said Russia was responsible. 

North Atlantic Treaty Organization 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 investigators had found three custom-made drones involved in the failed attack: Two in a field and one in the perimeter of the airport near Ukrainian-owned cargo planes, a German security official said. All were functional, laden with explosives, and had been professionally constructed, using some off-the-shelf components, yet had failed to detonate.

The drones were probably transported to Leipzig by low-level agents, the official added, but would have been piloted by people much farther away. Investigators had connected certain individuals to the drones in a way that supported the attribution, the person said.

In response, the German government said it would close the last Russian consulate in the country, revoke the lease for a large Russian cultural center in the center of Berlin’s government district, 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, an expansion of the bloc’s sanctions against Russians involved in hybrid attacks, and restrictions on Russian diplomats’ ability to travel around Europe. The government was also taking unspecified security measures to better parry future hybrid attacks, another senior official said.

The measures were decided by Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who consulted with European partners and the U.S., this person said. They were designed to leave room for escalation should Russia decide to raise its provocations, which Germany was bracing for, the person added.

The official said Russian President Vladimir Putin had grossly underestimated the West’s resolve to support Ukraine and had no strategic response to it. He was now reacting by seeking to escalate the conflict vertically, with more brutal attacks on civilian targets in Ukraine, and horizontally, by lashing out against Ukraine’s partners in Europe.

“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,” said Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul of the incident in Leipzig. 

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. The nature of such incidents often masks their origin, making it difficult to cast blame. European governments have also been wary of escalating hostilities with Moscow. 

But Berlin’s move Tuesday indicated an increasing willingness to call Russia out for attacks, including arson, that are sowing fear across the continent. 

Earlier in the day, NATO fighter jets scrambled in response to drones entering Estonian airspace, said the country’s foreign minister, Margus Tsahkna, who blamed the latest incursion on the spillover from Russia’s war in Ukraine. “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 over the weekend. 

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 didn’t directly accuse Russia but condemned “the intensification of these types of irresponsible incidents on the part of the Russian Federation.” Von der Leyen also refrained from pointing the finger straight at Moscow for the appearance of the drone, which she called hybrid warfare. 

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.

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.”

In the recent incident, 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. A separate incident the same day that saw a DHL plane make an emergency landing after reporting hitting an object was later determined to be unconnected to the drone incident, a German official said. The other two drones were found in fields nearby 10 days later. 

U.S. officials told The Wall Street Journal Russia was likely behind the plot.

Germany is rapidly rearming to withstand a potential Russian attack on NATO, but analysts say it won’t be ready by 2029, when Moscow could be willing and ready to launch such an attack. 

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.

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. But it is less common for leaders to openly accuse the Kremlin of being squarely behind an attack, or announce retaliatory measures.

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.

So now, after so many years of idly sitting on their hands, the EPP have finally realized Europe needs to keep its investment in Europe instead of watching capital flow to the US?

Fair enough.

But perhaps we should also talk about how we got here?

The EPP has been one of the dominant political forces in Europe for decades. It cannot spend years governing and then act surprised when the consequences of those policies become impossible to ignore.

A few things deserve remembering:

1. Russia and Ukraine

After Russia illegally annexed Crimea in 2014, the EU did impose sanctions and refused to recognise the annexation. But the broader European strategy of engagement with Russia ultimately failed to deter Putin. The Minsk process failed, Russian influence continued to grow, and Europe remained dangerously exposed to Russian energy.

The question isn't whether Europe did nothing.

The question is whether what it did was enough.

It wasn't.

And now we have a war in Ukraine after years in which European leaders failed to show the political resolve to seriously deter Putin.

2. Energy

Merkel's government decided to accelerate Germany's nuclear phase-out after Fukushima. At the same time, Merkel openly acknowledged that Germany would continue importing Russian gas and that gas would play a greater role as Germany moved away from coal and nuclear.

That combination left Germany - and therefore Europe - far more exposed to Russian energy coercion than it should have been.

That helped leave Germany's auto industry dangerously unprepared for Chinese competition while simultaneously deepening Europe's dependence on Russia.

3. “Wir schaffen das”

Merkel's 2015 refugee policy became one of the defining political controversies of modern Germany.

I'm not claiming that Wir schaffen das magically caused Brexit or created the AfD. But did it help? Would Brexit have happened had they been more careful? Would AfD be as strong as it is today?

Pretending that the policy had no role in the subsequent political backlash would be equally absurd.

The AfD grew dramatically in the political environment that followed, while immigration became one of the central fault lines driving European populism.

And we're all suffering consequences of that irresponsible and chaotic governing - from Europeans dealing with the political and social backlash to the very people who were encouraged to come, many of whom now face an increasingly uncertain future, including possible deportation.

4. Digital policy and lobbying

And then there is Brussels' relationship with Big Tech.

US technology companies spend enormous amounts of money lobbying around EU digital policy. Meta has openly fought European regulation, while the EU remains under enormous pressure from American technology companies and the US government.

And the Ashton Kutcher/Thorn story is particularly worth examining.

Kutcher personally came to the European Parliament to advocate for EU legislation on online child sexual abuse. He met Roberta Metsola, who publicly highlighted their meeting. She called him an "all around good guy". 👀 The European Ombudsman subsequently investigated the Commission's handling of transparency requests concerning Thorn's lobbying activities.

Meanwhile, in 2026, Parliament brought the controversial “Chat Control” legislation back to the floor.

You don't have to call this corruption. But when the European Ombudsman has already found maladministration and raised serious transparency concerns around these relationships, you absolutely should be asking questions about lobbying, transparency, conflicts of interest and who gets access to European lawmakers.

5. Competitiveness and investment

And finally, investment.

The Draghi report itself describes enormous structural problems in Europe's competitiveness: fragmented capital markets, high energy costs, weak productivity and a massive investment gap.

The same political establishment that has governed much of Europe for decades is now telling us that Europe urgently needs to become more competitive and keep its capital at home.

Perhaps.

But if you've been in charge for decades, you don't get to pretend you just arrived at the crime scene.

This isn't about blaming the EPP for every problem Europe has ever had.

It's about accountability.

You cannot spend years making strategic choices, dismiss criticism, and then suddenly announce that Europe needs to change course when the consequences become politically inconvenient.

Too little, too late. Those are NOT the people we should be looking to for change.

The EPP has had its chance.