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German officials believe a Russian military intelligence officer helped orchestrate an explosive drone plot at Leipzig airport last month, according to a report published Saturday, providing new detail behind Berlin's decision to formally blame Moscow for the incident and expel Russian diplomatic and cultural missions from the country.
The newspaper Welt am Sonntag reported that German security officials suspect a Russian national identified as Oleg Le, who has ties to the GRU, Russia's military intelligence agency, acted as the logistics coordinator for the plot. The paper also identified a second suspect, a Belarusian national named Andrei Ka.
The device at the center of the investigation was discovered late on August 4 in the secure cargo operations area of Leipzig airport, positioned near a Ukrainian cargo plane, according to the report.
The airport functions as a hub for transporting military goods, a detail that investigators view as central to the plot's intended target.
Authorities determined the identities of the two suspects through DNA traces recovered at the airport, Welt am Sonntag reported.
Investigators believe the explosives may have been smuggled into Germany concealed in trucks routed through Bulgaria and Serbia.
According to the report, investigators believe Le entered Germany from Türkiye and later departed from Berlin's airport to Serbia.
He is now believed to be back in Russia. Notably, German authorities were reportedly aware at the time of his entry into the country that Le had links to the GRU, but he was not placed under surveillance.
Direct flights between Russia and Germany have been suspended since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, a disruption that has shaped how Russian operatives are believed to move through Europe via third countries.
The findings described in the report formed the basis for Berlin's decision to publicly attribute the incident to Russia, Welt am Sonntag said.
In response, German authorities announced the closure of the Russian consulate in Bonn and a Russian cultural center in Berlin. Russia has denied any involvement in the plot.
A spokeswoman for Germany's domestic intelligence agency, the BfV, told AFP that she could not comment on the report, saying only that this was "due to the ongoing investigation."
Germany, one of Ukraine's most significant supporters since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, has experienced a rise in sabotage attempts, cyberattacks and other covert plots in recent years, with suspicion frequently directed at Moscow.
The Leipzig incident adds to a growing list of episodes that German officials have linked, publicly or privately, to Russian state actors.
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