Federal government plans response to drone attack in Leipzig

The federal government is about to respond to the attack by an explosive drone on Leipzig Airport with a whole range of measures. It is assumed that the government will blame Russia for the incident, which was probably only a coincidence and did not become a catastrophe.

Everything indicates that the measures were aimed at Russia, said Siemtje Möller on Deutschlandfunk on Monday. She is deputy chairwoman of the SPD parliamentary group. Russia must be shown clear boundaries, she said. “We all don’t want any further escalation of war with Russia.” But it is clear that Russia is operating on German territory and a “very clear stop signal” must be given against it. It's about a reaction, not a provocation.

Möller spoke of the fact that the EU could decide on a common legal framework to hinder the Russian shadow fleet, for example through stricter environmental regulations.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Sunday evening on ARD that they were in the process of completing the investigation into Leipzig. Merz said nothing about Russia in this context; However, the security authorities heard quite early on that there was a lot of evidence pointing to Russia as the perpetrator.

Nevertheless, the case presented the federal government with some problems. First of all, the nature of hybrid attacks like the one in Leipzig makes it difficult to prove who exactly is behind them. If there is enough evidence or at least circumstantial evidence, the government must then formulate an appropriate response.

Since Chancellor Merz, but also Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) spoke of a new quality of attack with regard to Leipzig, it is generally expected that the answer will also have a new quality - i.e. not, as in the past, with the expulsion of some Russian diplomats. Merz announced that the perpetrators would have to pay for their crime.

Merz spoke on Sunday that “large agreement” had been reached in the federal government about the reaction. This at least leaves room for interpretation that there is still a need for discussion between the coalition partners. In the past, this was primarily about military support for Ukraine.

While still in opposition, Merz had demanded that then-Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) deliver the Taurus cruise missile to Ukraine. Scholz had rejected this, arguing that he wanted to prevent Germany from participating directly in the war. Since Merz became Chancellor, he no longer speaks about the delivery of Taurus. Möller said on Monday that this would hardly help Ukraine militarily at the moment; rather, the country needed help with air defense.

Germany will not be prepared to retaliate in kind - i.e. to take similarly dangerous measures on Russian territory. Measures such as closing the Russian House in Berlin are therefore being discussed. The EU is currently preparing another package of sanctions; The EU foreign ministers will meet for consultations from Tuesday.

SPD parliamentary group vice-president Möller believes that Germany could definitely inflict pain on Russia with a coordinated approach with the EU and NATO. The Russian economy will be weakened by more consistent action against the shadow fleet. Unannounced NATO exercises are also conceivable.