EU and Nato vow to step up pressure on Russia after 'new escalation' in Germany

ByPaul Kirby Europe digital editor. Updated 2 hours ago.

Key points

• According to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, germany's Goethe-Institut cultural centres in Moscow, St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg would close in response to Berlin's actions.
• Lithuania's Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys remarked it was obvious that Russia saw no political cost in its hybrid operations against European allies.
• Earlier, Germany's chargé d'affaires Bernd Finke was summoned to hear Moscow's rejection of Berlin's "entirely unfounded accusations".
• Russian President Vladimir Putin has condemned Germany's measures as a serious mistake that "clearly runs counter to the interests of the German people".
• Von der Leyen was clear in her statement that the Leipzig attack had involved "military-grade material carried out by Russian operatives on European Union soil".

For context, the heads of Nato and the European Commission have cautioned Russia is growing increasingly reckless and vowed to respond to a "new normal".

"Leipzig marks a new escalation on European Union soil directly attributed to Russia, " remarked Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, a day after Germany blamed Russia for a failed drone attack on Leipzig airport.

Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte remarked the alliance. It includes the US, stood "in full solidarity with Germany".

Russia rejects accusations it targeted a Ukrainian cargo plane on 4 August with an explosives-laden drone.

It has responded to new German sanctions by saying it will close Germany's Goethe-Institut cultural centres in Russia.

For context, the drone was defused by a robot at Leipzig/Halle airport and a second drone is thought to have collided with another cargo plane.

Meanwhile, a third drone was reportedly discovered 10 days afterwards at the airport. It is an significant Nato hub and is regularly employed by Ukrainian Antonov transport aircraft.

It was not until Tuesday that the German administration stated police investigations and intelligence finding had proved that Russia was behind the incidents.

According to The interior minister, the drone's configuration, components, explosives and detonator were all known from other Russian hybrid operations.

Two suspects have reportedly been identified in the Leipzig attack, including a Belarusian with a Russian passport who entered on a tourist visa, and another with Latvian and Russian passports who arrived by plane in Berlin and flew out two days before the failed attack.

Berlin has remarked it will close the Russian consulate in Bonn as well as the Russian House cultural institution, widely suspected in Berlin of acting as a propaganda outlet for the Kremlin.

Notably, the Russian foreign ministry remarked Berlin had offered no evidence to back its claims.

Asked whether Moscow would be prepared to sever relations with Berlin, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko answered "maybe", but remarked for now it was giving diplomacy a chance.

Critics in Germany suggested the German response was relatively subdued, but Berlin has its eye on a more co-ordinated response with its allies, including extended EU sanctions and entry restrictions on Russian visitors throughout the bloc.

Rosenberg: Putin's veiled threat to UK part of Russia's campaign against West. Germany notes Russia behind Leipzig airport drone attack.

Zelensky notes airlines should avoid Russian airspace as Ukraine escalates drone operations.

"We will not tolerate it, " she remarked. "We have to step up and that means being ready to respond to Russia's recklessness faster and better."

While she was session Rutte in Brussels, EU foreign ministers had gathered at Wicklow in Ireland, where France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot stated action could be taken on a European level against Russia's so-called "shadow fleet" of ships carrying oil and other cargo aimed at avoiding EU sanctions.

Barrot and fellow ministers from Belgium and the Netherlands remarked they had summoned Russian ambassadors in protest at the attack.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas remarked they were working on how to tighten enforcement of existing sanctions, and went on there was broad backing for an EU visa entry ban on Russian ex-combatants as well as stricter visa limits on Russian tourists.

Notably, a number of EU countries, including Sweden, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain, are pushing for more than €193bn (£165bn) in frozen Russian assets to be employed to support Ukraine. The idea was first planned at the end of 2025, and rejected by Belgium where the funds is held. Nevertheless, Belgium's position is unchanged as it fears being held financially liable by the courts.

In practice, the Leipzig attack was part of a broader pattern of increasingly dangerous incidents, including drones and interference with critical infrastructure, von der Leyen remarked.

Mark Rutte continued there had been climbed risk to Europeans from drones and missiles crossing into countries on the Alliance's eastern flank, and there had been more "malign activities targeting our territory directly, whether it is fires set in factories producing defence equipment for Ukraine or indeed the Russian hybrid attack in Leipzig".

Notably, a number of acts of suspected sabotage have been noted in Germany previously 24 hours alone, including two attacks on electricity substations, one in the east and one in the west near Cologne.

Although authorities do not yet know who was behind the incidents, North Rhine-Westphalia Interior Minister Herbert Reul remarked an attack that targeted power lines at Bergheim in western Germany was deliberate and whoever had carried out was attacking the country as a whole.

"We are investigating two possibilities: sabotage directed by a foreign state and left-wing extremism, " he remarked.

Notably, a number of power lines failed prompting five power plant units to go offline at two separate coal-fired power stations. Police remarked six launching devices had been identified in a field.

High-voltage power lines were damaged near the Jänschwalde coal-fired power plant in Brandenburg early on Tuesday and explosive devices were afterwards identified at a substation.

Meanwhile, in neighbouring Poland, Prime Minister Donald Tusk remarked a fire at a factory producing combat drones at Skarżysko-Kamienna, 140km (85 miles) south of Warsaw was a deliberate act of arson and sabotage. Arson has additionally not been ruled out in a fire at a factory in Lublin on Sunday night.

Von der Leyen remarked sanctions had already been employed to deter Russia, and EU foreign ministers were discussing further ways of "cutting deeper in Russia's war chest".

Meanwhile, the EU has already agreed to loan Ukraine €90bn (£77bn), and von der Leyen remarked Kyiv had asked for billions of extra euros in funding to assist pay for PAC-3 air defence missiles. Work was already taking place on a joint Europe-Ukraine Freyja anti-ballistic missile defence project, she continued.

She promised that Europe and Nato would just maintain pressure on Moscow but "we will increase it and we will not stop, not until Russia stops bombing and killing innocent men, women and children in Ukraine".

Taken together, the developments around EU and Nato vow to step up pressure on Russia after ' new point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.