Germany live blog:
Incendiary devices on construction site: Bavarian LKA suspects attempted attack
Sep 3, 2026, 9:20 a.m. Reading time: 1 min.
Munich: After the attempted attack, the police cordon off a street not far from the Ostbahnhof.dpa
Fire in front of the arms company: Two suspects arrested +++ Lavrov: Goethe Institute in Russia will be closed +++ Reul: Infrastructure “incredibly easy to attack” +++ all developments in the live blog
Incendiary devices on construction site: Bavarian LKA suspects attempted attack
After an arson attack on a construction site in Munich, the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office (LKA) suspects an attempted attack against a defense company. A spokesman for the LKA said the investigation was being carried out because of a political background. On Thursday night, several incendiary devices were thrown at the construction site, and two suspects were later arrested.
Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) reports that it is a construction site in front of the headquarters of the technology group Rohde & Schwarz. In addition to all kinds of electronic devices, the company also produces tap-proof radio and communication systems for the military, as well as systems for surveillance, location and reconnaissance. It also works with the Bundeswehr.
The incendiary devices were thrown from a car. According to the LKA, the two suspects who were arrested at a gas station are a 28-year-old woman and a 38-year-old man with Bulgarian citizenship. So far they have not commented on the allegations, said an authority spokesman.
According to BR, a witness alerted the police around midnight and reported that incendiary devices had been thrown from a car in Berg am Laim. According to police, at least one of the incendiary devices started a fire. It was extinguished by police officers who arrived immediately. A police spokesman said no major damage was caused. Another incendiary device had to be defused by special forces.
Reul: Germany’s infrastructure “incredibly easy to attack”
After attacks on the power grid in North Rhine-Westphalia and southern Brandenburg, North Rhine-Westphalia Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) is calling for a rethink when weighing up security and data protection requirements. "We are extremely sensitive in Germany when it comes to video systems, and in general when it comes to all questions involving interference with civil rights or data protection," said Reul in the WDR 2 morning magazine. "So, now we realize what that means."
So far, operators of critical infrastructure have not been allowed to monitor their systems - for example for power supply - with video cameras. The interior minister warned that the critical infrastructure must be better protected.
Germany's infrastructure is "incredibly easy to attack," noted Reul. This starts with ensuring that all information about where such systems are located and how they work is accessible to everyone. That needs to be put to the test.
“At first, people always believe that they have police officers and then it can be solved,” said the CDU politician. However, monitoring with police forces is not possible given the size of the power or rail networks, for example. “Nothing works without technical possibilities.” However, in order for system operators to be able to use such options, the legislature must legally allow this.
In any case, there are ways to protect yourself better than before. “There’s still room for improvement.” This may also have included drones. "We have to have more confidence in ourselves."
Attempted attack in Leipzig: Merz wanted to name Russia earlier - ministers put the brakes on it
According to a report, at the cabinet meeting in Neuhardenberg, Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) urged Russia to be quickly and publicly named as the perpetrator of the attempted attack on Leipzig/Halle Airport. According to information from “Spiegel”, Merz was convinced at the time of the meeting last week that the chain of evidence was sufficient. However, Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) and Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul (CDU) initially spoke out against it.
According to the report, Dobrindt pointed out that the ongoing investigations should not be jeopardized by the government publicly accusing Russia of the attack. Wadephul objected that his department had to make preparations in the event that Moscow responded to German sanctions with countermeasures: German diplomats had to be warned and documents and data had to be brought to safety.
According to the report, it was not possible to publicly attribute the incident during the week of the closed meeting. In the following days, Merz's security advisor Günter Sautter coordinated with the state secretaries of the interior and foreign affairs departments on the wording of the statement that Dobrindt and Wadephul read out at the Interior Ministry on Tuesday.
Lavrov: Goethe Institutes in Russia will be closed
According to Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the government in Moscow will close the Goethe Institutes in Russia. According to the Interfax news agency, the minister said in Vladivostok that it was a reaction to the announced closure of the Russian House in Berlin. The federal government announced the closure of the Russia House as a result of the discovery of an explosive drone at Leipzig/Halle Airport. Berlin blames Moscow for the attempted attack.
According to the Goethe-Institut, in addition to the main office in Moscow, there are also cultural institutions in St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg. “Of course they will be closed after our cultural center is expelled from there (Berlin),” Lavrov said at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok. Germany consciously accepts that the step against the Russian House “clearly means the end of its cultural presence in the Russian Federation.”
Despite all the tensions with the West because of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, the institute was able to continue working, said Lavrov. The Goethe-Institut is one of the last German institutions still active in Russia. Russia had declared a large number of foundations and organizations undesirable and thereby banned them from operating.
Investigators are examining connections between the drone discovery and cases in Poland and Serbia
In the case of the Leipzig drone incident, German investigators are following leads to Poland and Serbia, according to a media report. As “Spiegel” learned from security circles, one of the suspects identified so far is linked to another incident - an arson attack on a hardware store in Lodz, Poland, in July 2024. According to the information, the man is said to have contact with Russian secret services.
According to “Spiegel” information, investigators are also examining connections between the incident in Leipzig and an explosives discovery on the Serbian-Hungarian border. Serbian security forces arrested two men there on June 11th who were carrying components of a modified drone, transmitters to control it and two cans of explosives.
According to information from investigators, the components have similarities to the drone discovered at Leipzig Airport. There, too, the explosives were installed in a tin can that was attached to the drone.
The men arrested at the EU border, a Serb and a man with Serbian and Russian citizenship, are in custody. According to “Spiegel”, the German security authorities are currently examining possible “relationships” between the two and a person who also plays a role in the Leipzig case.
Kiesewetter believes measures against Russia are inadequate
CDU foreign politician Roderich Kiesewetter believes the measures announced by the federal government against Russia after the attempted attack with an explosive drone at Leipzig/Halle Airport are inadequate. “The Russian House and the Consulate General should have been closed long ago for security reasons anyway,” Kiesewetter told the editorial network Germany (RND). It is not enough to simply take “symbolic and diplomatic measures”.
Kiesewetter called for consultations under Article 4 of the NATO Treaty. “The systematic nature of the attacks is also directed against NATO and is intended to divide and weaken the defense alliance,” he said. Article 4 provides for consultations between allies if a NATO state declares itself to be at risk from outside. But the federal government doesn't want to pull him.
Nine injured after liquid attack on AfD stand
Nine people were injured in an attack with a liquid on an AfD information stand in Bad Kreuznach, Rhineland-Palatinate. According to the current investigation, a liquid was poured from an adjacent building towards the party's stand, the police said.
Several people came into contact with splashes on Wednesday afternoon and suffered minor skin irritations. As a precaution, two injured people were taken to a hospital for further examination and have since been able to leave, it said.
After the incident in the area of the bridge houses in the city center, there was a major deployment of police, fire and rescue services. A suspect has been identified.
Due to the small amount of liquid, no serious injuries are expected based on current knowledge, the police said. The investigation into the background of the incident is still ongoing. What type of liquid it was still needs to be investigated, said a police spokesman.
Rome checks information on suspect after drone attack
Italy wants to examine information according to which a possible participant in the suspected Russian attack attempt on Leipzig/Halle Airport is said to have entered the EU on a tourist visa issued by Italy. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on the sidelines of an EU meeting in Ireland that all necessary investigations would now be carried out. In principle, there is a procedure for issuing visas and certain requirements must be met. If the persons concerned meet these requirements and there is no warning message about them, the visa will be issued.
NDR, WDR and “Süddeutsche Zeitung” had previously reported that investigators from the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) had now managed to identify suspects. Accordingly, one of them is said to have entered the Schengen area with an Italian tourist visa. According to the authorities, the document was issued at the end of April at an Italian diplomatic mission in Minsk, Belarus.
Pollsters see the CDU in Berlin two percentage points ahead of the Left
Around two and a half weeks before the election for the Berlin House of Representatives, the CDU is slightly ahead in an election survey by the Infratest dimap survey institute. According to the representative survey commissioned by the RBB, the party got around 21 percent. The left would therefore reach 19 percent. The Greens and the AfD are tied at 18 percent each. Behind them are the SPD with 11 and the BSW with 4 percent.
This means that two-party alliances are not possible. A coalition of the CDU, the Greens and the SPD and one of the Left, the Greens and the SPD would be mathematically conceivable. A coalition of CDU and SPD is currently in power.
A total of 1,279 people were interviewed by telephone and online between August 27th and 31st for the survey. A new state parliament will be elected in Berlin on September 20th. Election surveys are generally subject to uncertainty. Among other things, weakening party ties and increasingly short-term voting decisions make it more difficult for opinion research institutes to weight the data collected. In principle, surveys only reflect the opinion at the time of the survey and are not predictions of the election outcome.
Russia announces “tough response” to German measures
The Russian leadership is promising Germany a “tough response” to the measures announced because of the drone attack on Leipzig Airport. The Foreign Ministry in Moscow announced this on Wednesday with a view to summoning the chargé d'affaires of the German embassy. It did not give any details.
“The German diplomat was informed that the Russian side firmly rejects the completely out-of-air allegations made by the German government of Russian involvement in the alleged incident at Leipzig Airport,” it continued. The announced closure of the Russian Consulate General in Bonn and the Russian House in Berlin is seen as a “further step on the way to the final destruction of the potential of bilateral relations.” Berlin “deliberately committed an open provocation, the aim of which is an escalation in Russian-German relations.”
Russian ruler Vladimir Putin had previously explained the German accusations against Russia by saying that Chancellor Friedrich Merz did not have the “trust of his citizens”:
Media reports: Two suspects identified after Leipzig attack
According to media reports, investigators have two suspects in their sights in connection with the attempted drone attack at Leipzig/Halle Airport. According to “Zeit”, the federal prosecutor’s office is investigating two suspects. NDR, WDR and “Süddeutsche Zeitung” (SZ) report that the Federal Criminal Police Office managed to identify two suspects.
One of them is said to be a native Russian with a Latvian passport who is in contact with the Russian secret service. He is said to have entered Germany at the end of July. According to the report, the other suspect is a Belarusian citizen who is said to have come to Germany on an Italian tourist visa.
