An attempted attack in Leipzig, Germany, had all the hallmarks of state-sponsored terrorism, European Commission Vice President Kaja Kallas said yesterday, adding that Europe needs to coordinate on what more can be done given the escalation of Russia’s attacks on Ukraine.
The German government on Tuesday said it had concluded that Russia was responsible for the attempted drone attack last month.
Speaking ahead of an informal gathering of European foreign ministers in Ireland, Kallas also said that work is ongoing on 1,600 sanctions listings related to Russia’s military complex and “maybe there are more to be added.”
Photo: AFP
Ministers arriving at the meeting said the bloc needs to look for more ways to put pressure on Moscow.
“I think we need to now really explore all the options on the table in terms of tightening the sanctions,” Finnish Minister of Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen told reporters.
Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Kestutis Budrys said Europeans need to consider their options and respond.
“It is obvious Russia does not see the political cost of its hybrid activities against us. So for them, this is the cheap way to make tensions in our society,” Budrys said, adding that “our goal is to show that these activities will neither intimidate us nor prevent us from supporting Ukraine and maintaining our pressure on Russia.”
German Minister of Foreign Affairs Johann Wadephul said that the EU would work on imposing further sanctions on Russian individuals in the coming weeks.
“Pressure on Russia is being stepped up and support for Ukraine also remains at a high level. That is the unity we are demonstrating at this time,” Wadephul said.
Some European ministers pointed to risks stemming from Russia’s activities following the Leipzig incident.
“We are lucky that nothing happened, but we see what happened in Romania, what happened in so many countries,” Luxembourg Minister of Foreign Affairs Xavier Bettel said. “We see that there is no will from the Russian side to de-escalate. It’s my neighboring country, so the danger is coming closer.”
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