Kremlin warned Germany Leipzig sabotage was not its last attack, WSJ says

A Russian official reached out to a German government counterpart after a sabotage attempt at Leipzig airport and signalled that more attacks would follow, according to the Wall Street Journal, which cited people with knowledge of the exchange. The newspaper did not identify the official involved on either side.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had personally directed a stepped-up campaign of sabotage and covert action against NATO states, people familiar with US intelligence assessments told the paper. European officials said Moscow's frustration had built over the summer, after neither the fighting in Ukraine nor talks with Washington pushed Kyiv to accept Putin's conditions for ending the war.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe, after travelling to Moscow, told counterparts in European intelligence agencies and several politicians that Russia was ramping up sabotage efforts against their countries, the Wall Street Journal reported. The newspaper did not specify exactly when that briefing took place.

The Leipzig case began in August, when a drone carrying explosives turned up close to a Ukrainian An-124 cargo plane at the airport; investigators subsequently located further drones nearby, Meduza reported, citing the Wall Street Journal's account. Berlin formally pinned the attempted attack on Russia on 1 September. Moscow rejects the claim and denies any involvement.

Cases of suspected sabotage elsewhere in Europe have multiplied since then, the newspaper said. Arsonists struck drone-making plants in Estonia and Poland in August, while Slovak authorities said they stopped an arson plot against a Slovak factory that builds drones for Ukraine. Poland, Lithuania and Bulgaria have each separately reported interference with Starlink ground equipment in recent weeks, the paper said, pointing to a pattern stretching across the alliance's eastern flank.

Aides to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz indicated Berlin would have weighed invoking NATO's Article 5 mutual-defence clause had the Leipzig plot killed large numbers of people, Latvian outlet Jauns.lv reported, citing the Wall Street Journal. German officials have not confirmed that account publicly.