‘Germany wants war again’: Russian FM accuses Berlin after drone incident
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "‘Germany wants war again’: Russian FM accuses Berlin after drone incident")
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov Photograph: (AFP)
Lavrov accused Germany of preparing for war after Berlin blamed Russia for a drone attack on Leipzig airport and closed Russian diplomatic and cultural facilities. The EU has also discussed sanctions over the incident.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Germany of wanting to start a war after Berlin expelled the consulate general from Bonn and closed the Russian cultural centre. This comes after the German government on Tuesday (Sep 1) blamed Moscow for a drone attack on Leipzig airport last month. The explosive-laden drone was discovered in the secure cargo operations area at the strategic airport, near a Ukrainian cargo plane.
In an interview published on Sunday (Sep 6), Lavrov said, “This is, by and large, the start of a real war. They expelled the consulate general from Bonn. They’re closing the Russian House (cultural centre) in Berlin. I remember that before the start of the Second World War... They want war again.”
Lavrov also accused Germany of Nazism, adding that “the Russian leadership will draw the appropriate conclusions.”
Germany blames Russia over drone incident
On Tuesday (Sep 1), the German government said that Russia sent “low-level agents” for an attempted “hybrid attack” involving an explosive-laden drone at the strategic airport in eastern Germany.
In response, Germany shut down the Russian consulate in Bonn and ended the contract for the Russian House, a cultural centre in Berlin.
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After examining the drone technology used and other intelligence, Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said that “the government concludes that Russia is responsible for the hybrid attack in Leipzig on August 4.”
“The drone configuration – various components, explosives and ignition systems – are known to us from other hybrid operations by Russia and its war against Ukraine,” he added.
“We do not view the Leipzig incident in isolation, but rather see it in the context of other hybrid actions,” he said. “We assume that Germany is the target of further hybrid attacks by Russia.”
“We are not at war, but we are a daily target of hybrid warfare,” Dobrindt said.
EU summons Russian envoys
On Wednesday (Sep 2), the EU nations summoned Russia’s envoys and discussed fresh sanctions over the incident.
“It is clear that it has all the hallmarks of state-sponsored terrorism,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said. “The question is, what do we do about this?”
