Lavrov: Leipzig Drone Accusations 'Start of Real War' — SkimNews
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- Lavrov said Western accusations of Moscow's involvement in the Leipzig airport drone incident were "by and large, the start of a real war," per Russian state news agency TASS.
- Lavrov singled out German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, saying Merz's push to make Germany "the leading military power in Europe" is being "put into practice" and amounts to "in effect, declaring war on us."
- Germany concluded on September 1 that Russia was responsible for the attempted drone attack at Leipzig/Halle Airport and ordered the closure of a Russian consulate and a Russian cultural centre in Berlin.
- Russia had already dismissed the German accusations as baseless, accusing Berlin of planting evidence to frame Moscow for the attack.
- Leipzig/Halle Airport was the site of the August 5 incident, where explosives experts examined a drone found near a runway after a DHL cargo aircraft struck an unknown object on takeoff.
Why it matters: Lavrov's "start of a real war" framing escalates rhetoric well beyond the drone incident itself, tying Merz's rearmament ambitions directly to a declaration of hostilities. Germany has already moved from accusation to concrete countermeasures — consulate closure, cultural centre shutdown — so the dispute has crossed from verbal sparring into measurable diplomatic action with reciprocal escalation likely.
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