Dear Reader,
A month after an armed drone struck a freight plane at Leipzig Airport but failed to detonate, the German government officially blamed Russia.
On September 1st, Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt cited the similarity to previous drone incursions, initial findings by the police and intelligence reports as the reason for his confidence. “Taken together, they prove that Russia was responsible,” he said.
Germany closed Russian House, a state-run Russian cultural institute, in response. It also promised tougher measures against Moscow’s shadow fleet, the oil tankers that pass through the Baltic under false flags to bypass EU sanctions.
Eight days later, the Berliner Zeitung offered its readers a different account of what happened on the tarmac of Leipzig Airport on August 4th. According to an insider account, the drone in question was actually flown by a plane spotter and wasn’t big enough to carry an explosive device, the newspaper reported. Furthermore, airport staff hadn’t seen any explosives in the vicinity of the drone and were very surprised to see camera crews turn up so soon afterwards.
What was the basis for this incredible story, with its barely disguised insinuation of a massive conspiracy involving journalists, airport staff and politicians? Had the Berliner Zeitung researched the timeline of events itself? Had it talked to airport staff to try to corroborate the details of what exactly took place? Had it done its own investigation of the drone and its ability to carry extra weight?
None of the above.
Instead, the entire article was based on a social media post by a Ukrainian blogger who claimed to have spoken with an anonymous member of the airport staff. The staff member couldn’t be named because he feared for his job. At the top of the article, the newspaper suggested that the blogger’s nationality was proof of the credibility of the story. Why, after all, would a Ukrainian spread a story that helps Russia? Only at the very bottom does the article concede that the blogger, a certain Anatolij Shariy, is a “controversial figure” in his homeland.
That’s one way of putting it. Shariy, who set up a pro-Russian political party in 2019, lives in exile in Spain and is wanted by Ukrainian authorities over his alleged connections to the Kremlin. On his X account, he casts doubt on every Russian hybrid attack on Europe. Partisan would be a mild description.
Nonetheless, his allegations about a cover-up at Leipzig Airport have fallen on interested ears inside the AfD. “They faked the whole thing,” insisted Rainer Rothfuß, a Bundestag member for the hard-right party, adding: “It shows you how desperate this shitty government is.” Higher up the party, AfD foreign affairs spokesman Markus Frohnmaier said that he “and millions of Germans” believed that the government was lying about Russian culpability.
What to make of this strange attempt to reshape the narrative around the Leipzig drone attack? Is it simple naivety, or is something more sinister at work?