Berlin has used a “far-fetched” pretext to further damage bilateral relations, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said
Russia has rejected German claims that it was behind a suspected drone attack on Leipzig/Halle Airport in early August, dismissing the allegations as a “far-fetched” pretext to further strain bilateral relations.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Tuesday that Berlin had failed to provide any evidence to substantiate its claims.
Her remarks came after German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt and Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul announced new measures against Russia, which they linked to the August 4 incident.
The measures include closing the Russian Consulate General in Bonn from September 18 and terminating the lease of the Russian House in Berlin. Germany will also tighten border controls for Russian nationals, draw up a new list of individuals for EU sanctions, and increase pressure on what Berlin calls Russia’s “shadow fleet.”
According to Dobrindt, the measures were agreed after the German government concluded that Russia was “the perpetrator” behind the early-August incident, in which an explosive-laden drone was found lying between Ukrainian Antonov cargo planes on the apron at Leipzig/Halle Airport.
Germany has “failed to present any even remotely convincing or serious evidence” of Russian involvement, Zakharova said on Telegram on Tuesday. “There is none and there cannot be any,” she added.
Zakharova argued that German authorities had long sought to target both the Russian Consulate General in Bonn and the Russian House in Berlin, and had now come up with an “absolutely trumped-up and far-fetched” pretext to further damage bilateral relations.
Berlin “will get a fitting response,” she warned.
Zakharova also took aim at the timing of Berlin’s announcement, noting that it came on September 1 – the anniversary of Nazi Germany’s invasion of Poland in 1939.
She questioned whether German officials had chosen the date out of “stupidity and ignorance” or were “literally announcing a return to their roots” and “ritually demonstrating their intentions.”
“On September 1, 1939, Germany unleashed World War II and, together with the countries of the Hitlerite Axis, killed 70 million people, 27 million of them ours,” Zakharova said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also accused Germany of pursuing further escalation, saying Berlin had failed to provide any arguments substantiating its accusations against Moscow.
German officials have called for the closure of Russian diplomatic missions and the Russian House, a cultural and language center in Berlin, for some time.
In June, Roderich Kiesewetter, a senior MP and member of the Bundestag’s Foreign Affairs Committee, said that Germany “should expel any remaining [Russian] diplomats.” He also described the Russian House as part of Moscow’s “influence” network.
Last year, Kiesewetter caused controversy at home after arguing that Germany should “take the war to Russia.”
EU officials have previously invoked the threat of drones to warn of alleged Russian “hybrid attacks” and justify the bloc’s military buildup.
Between September and December last year, suspected drones were reported over airports and military facilities in several EU countries, including Denmark, Belgium, Ireland and Germany. In many cases, no wreckage was recovered, no perpetrators identified, and no footage of the alleged drones released. Nevertheless, officials repeatedly suggested that the incidents could be part of Russian “hybrid” operations.
Similar claims emerged in September 2025, when EU officials and Western media reported that Russia had allegedly jammed GPS signals on a plane carrying European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to Bulgaria.
Flight-tracking service Flightradar24 subsequently cast doubt on that account, saying that the aircraft had maintained “good GPS signal quality from take-off to landing.”
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