Russia summons German chargé d’affaires and rejects hybrid-war accusation

Russia summoned Germany’s chargé d’affaires in Moscow and delivered what it described as a firm rejection of Berlin’s accusations over a drone incident at Leipzig airport.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said Bernd Finke was called in over Germany’s “anti-Russian actions and statements” from the previous day. It said Moscow rejected as “absolutely unfounded” the claim that Russia was involved in the alleged incident at the airport on August 4.

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We will give diplomacy a chance, but diplomacy is a two-way street.

Moscow also condemned Germany’s decision to close its Consulate General in Bonn and the Russian House. The move, it said, represented another step toward destroying the potential for bilateral relations built by generations of Russian and German politicians. The ministry called Berlin’s actions an open provocation intended to escalate relations and warned that they would receive a tough response.

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The chancellor is in a difficult political position. He does not enjoy the trust of his citizens.

Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said Russia was not currently considering a rupture in diplomatic relations. “We will give diplomacy a chance, but diplomacy is a two-way street,” he told local media.

President Vladimir Putin linked Germany’s accusations to falling support for the country’s government and Chancellor Friedrich Merz. He said German companies were closing, people were losing jobs and living standards were declining. Putin also connected the dispute to upcoming election campaigns, including in Saxony. Germany’s interior minister, Alexander Dobrindt, said Berlin had concluded that Russia was responsible for the hybrid attack in Leipzig.

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The federal government concludes that Russia is responsible for the hybrid attack perpetrated in Leipzig on August 4.