Germany has said Russia was responsible for the drone attack at Leipzig’s airport on August 4. BBC News reports that the Russian embassy in Berlin said the allegation that Russia was responsible was “absurd.”
The drone, which was discovered carrying an explosive device at Leipzig/Halle Airport in eastern Germany, failed to explode as the detonator was apparently faulty. Investigators suspect a second drone collided with a cargo aircraft nearby, and a reports add that a third drone was found near the airport 10 days later.
The BBC reports that Leipzig/Halle Airport in the east of the country is used by Germany’s military and Nato allies for the transport of military goods and also serves as a base for Ukraine’s Antonov Airlines, which carries most of the country’s aerial cargo.
Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said examination of the equipment used along with intelligence findings proved Russian involvement in the attack.
Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for Russia’s foreign ministry, said Moscow would respond in a “mirror-image” fashion to Germany’s moves. These include closing the Russian consulate in Bonn, and terminating the lease for Russian House in Berlin — the massive seven-story cultural center opened in 1984 to celebrate friendship with the Soviet Union through concerts, film screenings and book readings, but which critics say has been used for espionage and to spread Russian propaganda.
Meanwhile, the Russian embassy said Germany’s measures constituted an “unprecedented escalation in Russian-German relations,” and Russian president Vladimir Putin Russian on September 1 accused Germany of planting evidence to blame Moscow for the attempted drone attack. He provided no evidence to back up the claim.
