NATO backs Germany over Russia drone allegation

NATO chief Mark Rutte vowed “full solidarity” with Germany on Tuesday after Berlin said Russia was responsible for an explosive-laden drone incident at Leipzig airport last month.

Rutte said after talks with Chancellor Friedrich Merz that NATO would keep strengthening its ability to deter and defend all allies against any threat, including “malign actions like those seen in Leipzig and elsewhere across the Alliance”.

“Russia's attempts to intimidate us, to undermine our unity and our willingness to support Ukraine are futile and will fail,” Rutte wrote on X.

The German government said Tuesday that Russia was responsible for what it called a hybrid attack in Leipzig on August 4. German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said Berlin reached that conclusion after assessing the technology used and other intelligence information.

German media had earlier reported that the drone was found during the night of August 4-5 near the airport and that police used a robot to defuse the device near a Ukrainian cargo plane.

The airport is used for the transport of military goods, including by the German military and NATO allies, and also serves as a base for Ukraine's Antonov Airlines. An EU chief later vowed “full solidarity” with Germany over the alleged hybrid attack.