Ayhan Simsek
29 August 2026•Update: 29 August 2026
- Germany weighing direct measures against Russian entities
Germany is preparing to formally hold Russia responsible for an attempted explosive drone attack at Leipzig Airport and announce tougher sanctions on Moscow, the weekly newspaper Welt am Sonntag reported on Saturday.
The planned measures would target Russian entities directly and would be coordinated with new European Union sanctions being prepared in Brussels, the newspaper reported, citing German officials familiar with the plans.
An announcement could come in the coming days, possibly around an EU foreign ministers’ meeting in Ireland on Tuesday.
It remains unclear whether Berlin will attribute the attack to individual Russian operatives or to the Russian government itself.
A German government spokesperson declined to provide details, saying any official attribution would follow a review of investigative findings.
According to the report, the measures under consideration go beyond earlier options such as expelling Russian diplomats or closing the Russian House cultural center in Berlin.
The officials did not specify the tougher steps, but said they could include intensified sanctions or expanded arms deliveries to Ukraine.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz said last week that Germany would impose consequences on those behind the Leipzig incident, without naming Russia.
“The German government will make perpetrators of hybrid attacks pay a price. They will be held accountable,” Merz said, adding that the investigation remains ongoing and that the government would soon present its findings.
Airport attack more serious than initially described
German media reported last week that the attempted drone attack on a Ukrainian Antonov cargo plane at Leipzig Airport earlier this month was more serious than initially described.
The drone had been rigged with explosives, and investigators now believe several drones were involved rather than one, according to public broadcasters NDR and WDR.
Welt am Sonntag also reported that the discovery of a weapons cache near Berlin has hardened the government’s stance.
German domestic intelligence officers found weapons and ammunition in a professionally prepared underground depot in a forest near the capital, authorities confirmed this month.
Federal prosecutors are investigating suspected preparation of a serious violent act threatening the state.
Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, the BfV, assesses that the weapons were stashed for Russian spies who could be ordered by Moscow to carry out assassination operations, according to the reports.
The Russian Embassy in Berlin has not issued an official statement on the allegations.
Moscow has previously rejected claims of assassinations, sabotage and spying in countries allied with Ukraine, accusing Western governments of stoking “anti-Russian paranoia.”
