Berlin attributes Leipzig drone to Moscow and closes Bonn consulate

On the night of August 5, on the southern runway of Leipzig/Halle airport, a drone equipped with explosives and a detonator was found a short distance from an Ukrainian Antonov An-124 cargo plane. Almost a month later, on September 1, the German federal government officially attributed responsibility for the act to Russia, as reconstructed by the Neue Zürcher Zeitung based on the government’s announcement and reports by Zeit and Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Redazione Zero does not cover the criminal side of the case: investigations are ongoing and are not addressed here. What falls within this newspaper’s scope is what governments have decided to do following the attribution.

The German package

Berlin has announced four measures. The first is the closure of the Russian consulate general in Bonn by the end of September. The second is the termination of the contract concerning the Russian House in Berlin. The third consists of new proposals for the European Union’s sanctions list. The fourth concerns stricter entry controls for Russian citizens, accompanied by increased pressure on the so-called Russian shadow fleet in the Baltic.

On the issue of airport security, Transport Minister Steffen Bilger indicated the direction in a single sentence: “We need to be faster in equipping our airports” (transl. from German), as reported by the NZZ. That drone detection and neutralization systems are not yet widespread is also suggested by the follow-up to the inquiries: research by ZDF frontal documented the discovery of an antenna in a small wood north of the airport, whose use remains a matter of speculation. Reports by Zeit, NDR, WDR and Süddeutsche Zeitung, picked up by the trade publication fvw, refer to investigative developments on which the Federal Prosecutor’s Office has not commented.

Wicklow, one day later

On September 2, the foreign ministers of the Twenty-Seven met in Wicklow, Ireland, for the informal gathering known as the Gymnich meeting. On the table, as reported by Affaritaliani from the press briefing on the sidelines, were two linked issues: the risk of interference in the electoral processes of EU member states and the hybrid attacks attributed to Moscow, together with the legal question of the possible confiscation of frozen Russian assets to be allocated to Ukraine.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani placed the cyberattacks against Italian infrastructure within the broader category of hybrid warfare, pointing to its supranational dimension:

“It is an issue that concerns the whole European Union” — Antonio Tajani, Italian Foreign Minister

The connection with the German case is chronological rather than formal: Berlin’s decision came the day before the meeting, as also noted by JLC News in its account of the statements made in Wicklow.

What we don’t know

We do not know on what basis the government attribution to Russia rests: the package has been announced, the technical justification has not. We do not know when Germany’s new proposals for the sanctions list will formally reach the table of the Twenty-Seven, nor what the timeline is for any decision on frozen assets, which at the Gymnich meeting was discussed as an open legal question. We do not know whether Moscow has announced countermeasures.

One date is set and it is near: the Russian consulate general in Bonn must close by the end of September.