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Sophia Yan – The Telegraph Sept 6, 2026

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Russia’s foreign minister has warned his country is at “the beginning of a real war” with the West after Berlin accused it of attacking Leipzig airport with an explosive drone.

Sergei Lavrov cited a string of German actions as evidence of escalating tensions, claiming that some of them echoed events leading up to the Second World War.

Germany has expelled the Russian consulate general from Bonn, as well as closing the Russian House, a cultural centre in Berlin, in response to the failed drone attack in Leipzig.

Germany’s airport terror plot: a flight of fancy leading Europe to war

The attack, discovered in early August, amounts to one of the most brazen acts of sabotage that Russia has attempted in Europe.

Mr Lavrov, speaking as Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the US envoys, visited Moscow and Kyiv in an attempt to revive Ukraine peace talks, accused Germany of wanting war.

He told a Russian state TV reporter: “This is, by and large, the start of a real war. They expelled the consulate general from Bonn. They’re closing the Russian House (cultural centre) in Berlin. I remember that before the start of the Second World War… They want war again.”

Mr Lavrov’s comments came as AfD, the Kremlin-friendly German populist party, was predicted to win a landslide in a crucial regional election. That could pave the way for victory at the next federal election, and trigger a crisis of confidence in Friedrich Merz’s government.

Mr Witkoff and Mr Kushner arrived in Kyiv on Sunday for their first official visit to the Ukrainian capital, following talks in Moscow with Vladimir Putin on Saturday.

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