EU leaders and NATO's Mark Rutte vowed to step up pressure on Russia after Germany blamed Moscow for an explosives-laden drone found near a Ukrainian aircraft at Leipzig/Halle Airport on August 4, with EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas calling the incident state-sponsored terrorism. EU foreign ministers meeting in Wicklow, Ireland discussed tighter sanctions enforcement, visa restrictions on Russian tourists, and measures against Russia's shadow fleet.
German Foreign Minister Johan Wadephul said Berlin had closed the Russian House cultural centre in Berlin and the Russian consulate in Bonn. Russia retaliated by announcing closures of Goethe-Institut branches in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg, with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warning of further measures possibly including Germany's consulate general in St. Petersburg.
Several EU states including Sweden, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain are pushing to use more than €193bn (£165bn) in frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine, though Belgium opposes the move citing legal liability concerns. The EU has imposed almost two dozen sanctions packages on more than 3,000 officials and entities and is preparing additional travel bans and asset freezes on 1,600 people.
Russia's Vladimir Putin dismissed the allegations as planted evidence, while Lithuania's Kestutis Budrys said Moscow perceives no political cost from its hybrid operations against European allies.