Lavrov Warns of 'Real War' Over Leipzig Drone
Lavrov Warns of 'Real War' Over Leipzig Drone
The News
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Sunday that Western accusations blaming Moscow for the drone incident at Germany's Leipzig/Halle Airport are "by and large, the start of a real war," according to Russian state news agency TASS, as reported by Reuters.
Lavrov also accused German Chancellor Friedrich Merz of "in effect, declaring war on us" over Merz's push to make Germany Europe's leading military power.
The German government concluded on Sept. 1 that Russia was responsible for an attempted drone attack at the airport last month and ordered retaliatory measures, including closing a Russian consulate and a Russian cultural centre in Berlin. Moscow calls the accusation baseless and says Berlin planted evidence to frame it.
The exchange landed the same day President Trump's envoys arrived in Kyiv for peace talks.
Timeline
A drone is found at Leipzig/Halle Airport in eastern Germany. The Daily Mail reports it was discovered on the tarmac near a Ukrainian cargo plane; Reuters reports it was found near a runway, and that a DHL cargo aircraft struck an unknown object while climbing away from the airport overnight, forcing an unscheduled landing in Hanover.
German police deploy explosives experts and an explosive-disposal robot at the airport to examine the drone, according to Reuters. Flights are grounded.
Berlin announces it has concluded Russia was behind the attempted attack, describing a "hybrid attack" carried out by "low-level agents" using an explosive-laden drone. Germany orders the closure of a Russian consulate and the Russian cultural centre in Berlin.
A key installation near the Janschwalde lignite-fired power plant in Brandenburg, the largest in the state, is repeatedly targeted with what local media describe as "homemade explosive rockets." Emergency crews find and defuse additional devices. State interior minister Jan Redmann calls it an "act of sabotage."
Moscow and Berlin close each other's cultural centres, and EU countries summon Russian envoys.
US negotiators meet Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Russia and Ukraine agree to a 72-hour ceasefire.
Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrive in Kyiv by train to resume talks with Volodymyr Zelensky. Hours earlier, Lavrov's "real war" remarks are carried by TASS.
Reactions
Lavrov, per TASS: "This is, by and large, the start of a real war. They expelled the consulate general from Bonn. They're closing the Russian House in Berlin. I remember that before the start of the Second World War... They want war again."
He accused Germany of Nazism and added, "The Russian leadership will draw the appropriate conclusions."
On Merz, Lavrov said: "All these statements by Merz about making Germany the leading military power in Europe once again – they are being put into practice. He is, in effect, declaring war on us."
Berlin's position, stated Sept. 1, is that Russian "low-level agents" attempted a hybrid attack with an explosive-laden drone. Russia rejects that and accuses Germany of planting evidence.
What's Next
Witkoff and Kushner are in Kyiv for talks with Zelensky, following Saturday's meeting with Putin in Moscow. The 72-hour ceasefire agreed by Russia and Ukraine is the immediate test of whether that track holds.
German police have not confirmed that the Janschwalde site was hit by rockets; they said possible damage to a power line was found and bomb disposal experts were at the scene, and that improvised explosive and incendiary devices were also discovered.
Lavrov's warning that Moscow "will draw the appropriate conclusions" leaves open further Russian retaliation against Germany's diplomatic expulsions and closures.
More
Putin told Russians this week they must be "prepared for anything," speaking at Russia's Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok. Asked whether long fuel queues caused by Ukrainian drone strikes on oil refineries would ease, he said: "Only our readiness for anything will give everyone who wants to harm us an understanding that it is better not to do so."
He vowed retaliatory strikes on Ukraine so it does not "dare to harm us again," and offered no hope of an early end to the four-year war. Putin has ruled out peace talks and accused Zelensky of "state terrorism" — even as the 72-hour ceasefire was agreed and US envoys shuttled between Moscow and Kyiv.
Russia has faced a punishing summer of nightly Ukrainian drone swarms hitting oil refineries and setting retail warehouses ablaze.
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Was Russia behind the Leipzig airport drone?
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