Elisabeth Braw is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, author of the award-winning “Goodbye Globalization” and a regular columnist for POLITICO. Her new book, “The Undersea War,” is out Oct. 8. Plots against defense executives, a series of arson attacks against private companies and warehouses, and explosive drones at Germany’s Leipzig/Halle Airport.
Had any of these worked as intended, they would have caused immense damage, not to mention claimed lives. This is the situation plaguing Europe today, faced as it is with a proliferation of gray-zone attacks. And while a definitive response from the continent is yet to materialize, the bloc has finally started to name and address the hybrid war it’s been pulled into.
No, summits and statements won’t thwart attacks, but acknowledgement is famously the first step to recovery. It was only a miracle that saved workers at Leipzig airport when, on Aug. 4, an approaching drone landed poorly and lost its load of explosives. Had things gone to plan, it would have exploded next to a Ukrainian Antonov plane ready for departure, causing immense damage to a busy airport servicing the people and businesses of large parts of Germany. (Investigators later found a second drone laden with military-grade explosives right next to the airport.) But who would want to maim and kill airport users?
On Sept. 1, the German government announced it had determined Russia was behind the attack. Years ago, European governments would have preferred not to publicly attribute such reckless incidents because with attribution comes the need to respond. But this time Germany openly identified the Kremlin as the instigator, showing just how seriously Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s government is taking the incident.
That’s because the failed drone explosion is only the latest in a series of sinister activity of which Germany has been a particular target. Just before the country’s national election in 2025, the exhaust pipes of hundreds of cars were sabotaged across the country, and stickers calling for people to vote for the Greens attached to their windows. While that last touch suggested environmental activists were behind the campaign, the perpetrators were later identified as agents working on Russia’s behalf.
A couple of months earlier, a parcel — which turned out to contain a bomb — caught fire at DHL’s depot at Leipzig/Halle Airport. The perpetrators of this event, too, were later found to be working for Russia. And a few months before that, German authorities uncovered a Russian assassination plot against arms manufacturer Rheinmetall’s CEO.
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