UK and Germany launch security pact to counter Russian sabotage

UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz launched a joint security partnership on Thursday to counter sabotage, cyberattacks and other hybrid threats, during Burnham's first face-to-face meeting with Merz in Berlin.

The partnership will see the two countries share information and coordinate action to monitor, deter and disrupt threats to critical infrastructure, according to a UK government statement. "The hybrid threat from our adversaries, especially Russia, extends across Europe and beyond, threatening our collective security," the statement said.

Burnham said attacks on infrastructure, businesses and democracies were "not a distant threat" and that they "reach into people's homes and workplaces" to make societies "weaker and more divided". Britain and Germany were "joining forces to find, expose and disrupt this activity," he said.

The two leaders formally ratified the Kensington Treaty, a 27-page bilateral agreement signed in 2025 committing Britain and Germany to closer cooperation on defence, security, science, technology and growth, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported. They also agreed their defence ministries would examine possible cooperation on a new fighter jet, though no decision on a joint project was made, the newspaper said.

Merz and Burnham also discussed joint support for Ukraine, instability in the Middle East and disruption to trade routes such as the Strait of Hormuz, the Evening Standard reported. Merz has offered to host a meeting of the coalition of the willing on Ukraine in Berlin in December, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung said.

The visit comes a month after Britain summoned a senior Russian diplomat over what it called an "egregious and reckless attack" involving a drone carrying explosives found near Ukrainian cargo planes at Germany's Leipzig airport in August. The drone failed to explode and was defused; investigators suspect a second drone collided with a cargo aircraft nearby, and a third was found near the airport 10 days later. German interior minister Alexander Dobrindt said the attack followed a "well-established pattern of Russian hybrid operations" and that Germany expected to be targeted again. Moscow has denied involvement, and President Vladimir Putin has accused Germany of planting evidence.