German Intelligence Links GRU to Foiled Drone Bomb Plot at Leipzig Airport Targeting Ukrainian Cargo Aircraft

German investigators have identified two suspects in the August 4 drone-bomb attempt on a Ukrainian An-124 at Leipzig/Halle airport, citing secret investigation files obtained by Welt am Sonntag 12: Russian national Oleg Le., attributed to the GRU military intelligence agency and believed to have organized logistics, and Belarusian national Andrei Ka., suspected of carrying out the attack 34. Le. entered Germany via Turkey and departed through Berlin-Brandenburg airport for Serbia before returning to Russia; investigators knew of his GRU ties on entry but did not place him under surveillance 45. DNA on glove remains at the drone's antenna control site matched traces on file in Finland and Lithuania tied to Ka., whom Polish authorities separately link to a 2024 hardware-store fire in Łódź treated as sabotage 36. About 1.8 kg of Semtex, packed in a vegetable can, failed to detonate against the fueled Antonov after a detonator tore loose; German officials cited these findings as the basis for publicly blaming Russia on September 1 and closing Russia's Bonn consulate and Berlin cultural center, prompting Moscow to shutter Germany's St. Petersburg consulate and the Goethe-Institutes 23.