Berlin also announced diplomatic retaliatory measures.
The European Union (EU) expressed full solidarity with Germany, NATO assured it would defend its members, and countries such as the United Kingdom (UK), Estonia, and Poland offered strong support.
Germany will later this month close the Russian consulate in the former capital Bonn and cancel the contract for the Russian House – a cultural center – in Berlin, said Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul.
“We are tightening entry controls for Russian citizens,” and Germany will also propose adding more Russian individuals to the European Union sanctions lists, the minister said.
At the same time, the Russian ambassador in Berlin is being summoned.
The head of German diplomacy also promised that Germany will increase pressure on Russia’s shadow fleet – old oil tankers and other cargo ships of unclear ownership that Russia uses to circumvent Western sanctions.
Germany’s Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said that, based on the technology used and other intelligence information, “the government concludes that Russia is responsible for the hybrid attack in Leipzig on August 4.”
He blamed “low-level agents” for the operation and said that “the drone configuration – various components, explosives, and ignition systems – are known to us from other hybrid operations conducted by Russia and from its war against Ukraine.”
“We do not examine the Leipzig incident in isolation – we see it in the context of other hybrid actions,” he said. “We assume that Germany is a target of further hybrid attacks from Russia.”
“We are not at war, but every day we are a target of hybrid warfare,” the minister added.
European Commission (EC) head Ursula von der Leyen stated that the European Union (EU) expresses full solidarity with Germany, and NATO leader Mark Rutte said the Alliance “will continue to strengthen our ability to deter and defend all allies from any threats, including such malicious actions as those seen in Leipzig and elsewhere across the Alliance.”
NATO member Germany, supporting Ukraine in its fight against Russia, has long accused Moscow of conducting hybrid attacks, including espionage and sabotage. Russia denies the allegations.
Suspicious drone flights over military and industrial sites have been recorded in Germany for several months, but the incident in Leipzig on the night of August 5 caused great concern because the drone found there carried explosives.
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The police used a robot to neutralize a device found near a Ukrainian cargo plane, and a few weeks later, another drone with traces of explosives was reportedly found near the airport.
This airport plays an important role in transporting military goods, including cargo for the German army and NATO allies, and also serves as a base for the Ukrainian company Antonov Airlines.
“Spy center”
Chancellor Friedrich Merz later stated that Germany is increasingly “in the crosshairs of hybrid attack perpetrators” and warned that the culprits “will pay for them,” without specifying the target.
There has been much debate about whether Germany should close the Russian House in Berlin, which security services believe is both a propaganda and intelligence center.
The Russian Science and Culture House, a seven-story building opened in 1984 in then East Berlin, is near the Russian embassy.
Conservative parliamentarian and security policy expert Roderich Kiesewetter recently told Welt TV that the facility is believed to be a spy center.
According to him, more than 100 people live there, “with no one knowing who they are,” and the building’s electricity consumption is unusually high.
It is “probably full of technical surveillance equipment” and is used by “people who are unfriendly towards Germany,” Kiesewetter said.
In recent weeks, the German government has explained that it has so far allowed the Russian House to operate due to bilateral contractual ties with the Goethe Institute in Moscow.
Kiesewetter dismissed concerns about Russian retaliatory measures.
“Are we not closing them because we think the Goethe Institutes in Russia would then be closed in retaliation? Then they will simply be closed,” he said.
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