The foreign ministers of the European Union will meet informally this Wednesday in Ireland to discuss how to react to Russia after last month's failed drone bomb attack at Leipzig airport, an action that Germany attributed to Moscow on Tuesday and that has sparked condemnation from the other European partners.
The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs, Kaja Kallas, explained on Wednesday before the press that the attack "has all the indications" of state-sponsored terrorism, referring to Russia.
"All (the ministers) will talk about the attacks in Leipzig (...) The question is: What do we do about it? We have already summoned the Russian ambassadors, many member states have also done so, and we will discuss what more we can do," she noted, reminding that this type of meeting, known as Gymnich, is informal and therefore does not involve formal decisions.
The head of European diplomacy has opened the door to further tightening the sanctions regime against Moscow. She recalled that the EU already maintains around 600 designations linked to the Russian military framework and has indicated that member states have proposed new names that must first pass legal scrutiny before being approved.
At the same time, she emphasized that "these hybrid attacks" should act as a "wake-up call" for those governments that until now had not adopted such a firm stance against the Kremlin. "If we want to end this war, we all need to focus our efforts," she stated, describing what happened in Leipzig as "a very strong signal."
Kallas also highlighted the strong support of the Twenty-Seven for Germany after the attempted attack. "This morning we had conversations and the Germans were very grateful for the support of all member states," she pointed out, insisting that this "unified response" is precisely what the EU needs at this moment.
Reinforcement of critical infrastructure protection
In parallel, Kallas detailed that the European Union is preparing a joint exercise aimed at strengthening the security of European critical infrastructures, a matter that was already addressed by the defense ministers on Tuesday and will again be on the agenda of the foreign ministers in today's meeting in Ireland.
The High Representative has acknowledged the specific difficulties in controlling underwater infrastructures against potential acts of sabotage, due to the lower visibility compared to surface facilities. Nevertheless, she has emphasized that new technologies are being developed that can help improve their protection.
"There are new tools that we can use, underwater drones and all these things, and we can also learn from the innovation that Ukraine has developed," Kallas has indicated, who has argued that there are "possibilities to do more" to monitor and safeguard these types of strategic infrastructures.