EU and Nato vow to step up pressure on Russia after 'new escalation' in Germany

Image source, ReutersImage caption, Ursula von der Leyen and Mark Rutte accused Russia of becoming increasingly reckless in its attacks on Europe.

• Rosenberg: Putin's veiled threat to UK part of Russia's campaign against WestPublished1 hour ago.

Alemanha afirma que Rússia está por trás do ataque com drone no aeroporto de Leipzig.

Zelensky diz que companhias aéreas devem evitar o espaço aéreo russo enquanto a Ucrânia intensifica operações de drones.

The heads of Nato and the European Commission have warned that Russia is growing increasingly reckless and vowed to respond to a "new normal.

Leipzig marca uma nova escalada no solo da União Europeia diretamente atribuída à Rússia," disse a Presidente da Comissão Ursula von der Leyen, um dia depois que a Alemanha culpou a Rússia por um ataque falho de drone no mês passado no aeroporto de Leipzig.

We have to step up and that means being ready to respond to Russia's recklessness faster and better," von der Leyen said. Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte said the whole alliance, which includes the US, stood "in full solidarity with Germany.

Russia has rejected German accusations that a drone carrying explosives deliberately targeted a Ukrainian cargo plane on 4 August.

O drone foi desativado por um robô no aeroporto de Leipzig/Halle e acredita-se que um segundo drone tenha colidido com outro avião de carga.

A third drone was reportedly found 10 days later at the airport, which is an important Nato hub and is regularly used by Ukrainian Antonov transport aircraft.

It was not until Tuesday that the German government said police investigations and intelligence finding had proved that Russia was behind the incidents.

O ministro do interior disse que a configuração, os componentes, os explosivos e o detonador do drone eram todos conhecidos de outras operações híbridas russas.

Two suspects have reportedly been identified in the Leipzig attack, including a Belarusian with a Russian passport who entered on a tourist visa, and another with Latvian and Russian passports who arrived by plane in Berlin and flew out two days before the failed attack.

Fonte da imagem, Getty Images Legenda da imagem, A Casa Russa em Berlim será fechada como parte da resposta da Alemanha ao ataque de Leipzig.

Berlin has said it will close the Russian consulate in Bonn as well as the Russian House cultural institution, widely suspected in Berlin of acting as a propaganda outlet for the Kremlin.

The Russian foreign ministry promised to respond in "mirror-image" fashion and said Berlin had offered no evidence to back its claims.

Vladimir Putin has condemned Germany's measures as a serious mistake that "clearly runs counter to the interests of the German people.

Asked whether Moscow would be prepared to sever relations with Berlin, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said "maybe", but for now it was giving diplomacy a chance.

Critics in Germany suggested the German response was relatively weak, but Berlin has its eye on a more co-ordinated response with its allies, including extended EU sanctions and entry restrictions on Russian visitors across the bloc.

Von der Leyen was clear in her statement that the Leipzig attack had involved "military-grade material carried out by Russian operatives on European Union soil.

While she was meeting Rutte in Brussels, EU foreign ministers had gathered at Wicklow in Ireland, where France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said action could be taken on a European level against Russia's so-called "shadow fleet" of ships carrying oil and other cargo aimed at avoiding EU sanctions.

Barrot and fellow ministers from Belgium and the Netherlands said they had summoned Russian ambassadors in protest at the attack.

Lithuania's Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys said it was obvious that Russia saw no political cost in its hybrid operations against European allies.

The Leipzig attack was part of a broader pattern of increasingly dangerous incidents, including drones and interference with critical infrastructure, von der Leyen said.

Mark Rutte added there had been increased risk to Europeans from drones and missiles crossing into countries on the Alliance's eastern flank, and there had been more "malign activities targeting our territory directly, whether it is fires set in factories producing defence equipment for Ukraine or indeed the Russian hybrid attack in Leipzig.

Image source, ReutersImage caption, Police search an area in Bergheim after an attack on a substation.

Several acts of suspected sabotage have been reported in Germany in the past 24 hours alone, including two attacks on electricity substations, one in the east and one in the west near Cologne.

Although authorities do not yet know who was behind the incidents, North Rhine-Westphalia Interior Minister Herbert Reul said an attack that targeted power lines at Bergheim in western Germany was deliberate and whoever had carried out was attacking the country as a whole.

We are investigating two possibilities: sabotage directed by a foreign state and left-wing extremism," he said.

Police said six launching devices had been found in a field.

Von der Leyen said sanctions had already been used to deter Russia, and EU foreign ministers were discussing further ways of "cutting deeper in Russia's war chest.

The EU has already agreed to loan Ukraine €90bn (£77bn), and von der Leyen said Kyiv had asked for billions of extra euros in funding from Kyiv to help pay for PAC-3 air defence missiles.

O trabalho já estava em curso em um projeto conjunto de defesa antimísseis Freyja entre a Europa e a Ucrânia, acrescentou ela.

She promised that Europe and Nato would just maintain pressure on Moscow but "we will increase it and we will not stop, not until Russia stops bombing and killing innocent children, men and children in Ukraine.