Leipzig airport attack: Germany identifies two people with ties to Russia

Following an attempted bomb attack on cargo planes at Leipzig airport, German investigators have identified two men with ties to Russia who are suspected of planning the operation.

The suspects are a man born in Russia with a Latvian passport and a Belarusian citizen with a Russian passport. Both were previously known to the police.

According to German media , they are suspected of being behind a drone attack that took place in early August. German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt described the operation as professionally planned and carried out with “a high level of technical expertise and considerable organizational effort.”

Dobrindt said the attack shows a now-known pattern of Russian hybrid activity in Europe. According to the German government, Russia bears responsibility for the August 4 attack, while the investigation continues under a high level of confidentiality.

Investigators believe the man, who is of Russian origin and holds a Latvian passport, served as the operation's logistics coordinator and instructor. He is suspected of entering Germany in late July through Berlin airport and then traveling in a rental car to Leipzig. Two days before the failed attack, he left Germany again via Berlin.

DNA traces found at the scene led investigators to the second suspect. Genetic material was found on one of the drones, inside a container filled with explosives, and on an antenna placed in a tree near the airport to boost the signal of the drones, which were controlled by phone.

Comparison with European databases revealed matches in Lithuania and Finland, leading authorities to a Belarusian national, who had previously been registered in several countries for other criminal offenses. He had entered Germany on an Italian tourist visa, issued in late April by the Italian embassy in Minsk.

Experts from the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) believe that more drones may have been used in the attack than initially thought. So far, three devices have been found, complete or in parts. However, investigators are skeptical that the suspects will ever face justice, as they are believed to have fled Europe.

Moscow has denied any responsibility for the incident. The Russian embassy in Berlin has called it a “hastily concocted provocation” and expressed concern about what it described as a new wave of “anti-Russian hysteria” in Germany.