Germany-Russia meeting: heading towards confrontation rather than de-escalation and diplomacy

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul held a surprise meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the United Nations, the first meeting between the two countries’ foreign ministers since January 2022. The central issue was Germany’s accusation that Russia was behind the attempted drone attack at Leipzig airport. Wadephul directly raised the incident with Lavrov, warning Russia against further escalation toward Germany, Europe and NATO and saying Germany would defend itself against such attacks.

He also called for de-escalation and renewed negotiations over Ukraine, including the possibility of restoring grain exports through the Black Sea, while reasserting Germany’s support for Kyiv.

Russia, however, did not accept Germany’s accusation. Lavrov challenged Berlin’s attribution of the Leipzig incident, with the Russian side maintaining that Germany had not provided convincing proof that the drone was Russian. He said the talks also covered bilateral relations and Ukraine, but Lavrov later said Wadephul had essentially repeated Germany’s existing positions and that he had heard “nothing new.”

Moscow also stressed that the meeting had been requested by Germany.

Thus, the encounter brought the Leipzig accusation directly into a rare high-level Germany-Russia meeting, but produced no Russian acceptance of Berlin’s attribution and no substantive change in Moscow’s position. Politico, Reuters et al