A Russian and a Belarusian: Germany identifies two suspects in preparation for a drone attack on Leipzig airport
Фото: Reuters
German intelligence services have identified two people suspected of preparing a drone attack on Leipzig/Halle airport on August 4. According to investigators, one of them may be connected to the Russian military intelligence agency GRU.
This is reported by Welt am Sonntag.
The attack was carried out by 3 drones. 2 of them were destroyed during launch for unknown reasons, and the third flew to the Ukrainian Antonov aircraft, but did not explode.
According to the investigation, the drone was carrying about 1.8 kilograms of Semtex explosives, disguised in a vegetable can. The detonation did not occur due to a broken detonator. Investigators believe that the explosion could have caused significant damage to the airport, since the plane was refueled with approximately 25,000 liters of aviation fuel at the time of the attack.
German intelligence services have identified with high probability Belarusian citizen Andriy Ka. and Russian citizen Oleg Le. According to the investigation, Le. was responsible for the logistics of the operation and may be connected to the GRU.
Oleg Le. arrived in Germany via Turkey at Berlin-Brandenburg Airport, then traveled to Serbia via the same route and returned to Russia. According to journalists, investigators were aware of his possible connection to the GRU even upon entering Germany.
The suspects were identified after DNA testing on gloves found near the drone control antenna. Traces were previously recorded in Finland and Lithuania, where Andriy Ka. is serving a sentence for domestic crimes.
The Polish prosecutor’s office also links him to the arson of a construction hypermarket in Łódź in the summer of 2024. This case was classified as sabotage with traces leading to Russia.
According to the investigation, the explosives were transported to Germany via Bulgaria and Serbia in the cavities of trucks. They were later hidden in underground caches, several of which were discovered by police near the airport after analyzing the data from the suspects’ rented car.
As a reminder,Germany officially stated that Russia was responsible for the attempted sabotage at Leipzig/Halle airport . In early August, a drone with explosives was discovered there near a Ukrainian cargo plane.
In addition, two disturbing incidents occurred in Germany overnight: an unidentified object exploded at Augsburg’s main train station, injuring two people, and at a substation near Cologne, police suspected deliberate damage to equipment.
As reported, on the morning of September 2 , an explosion occurred at the Augsburg Central Station in Germany, injuring two Ukrainian citizens — a 17-year-old girl and an 18-year-old boy. Later, another suspicious object was found near the main entrance to the station, but it did not explode.
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