Germany identifies 2 Russia-linked suspects in Leipzig drone plot: Reports

German investigators have identified two men with ties to Russia as suspects in last month's attempted drone attack on a Ukrainian cargo aircraft at Leipzig Airport, local media reported on Wednesday.

Federal investigators are focusing on a Russian-born man holding a Latvian passport and a Belarusian national who also carries a Russian passport, according to public broadcasters NDR and WDR and daily Suddeutsche Zeitung.

Investigators believe the Latvian passport holder acted as a logistician and instructor, according to the reports. He entered Germany in late July via Berlin Brandenburg Airport, traveled toward Leipzig in a rental car and left the country by air from the same airport two days before the attempted strike.

Investigators said he has connections to Russian intelligence, the reports added.

DNA traces recovered from one of the drones, an explosives-filled tin can and an antenna fixed to a tree near the airport led authorities to the second suspect, according to the reports.

The antenna was used to boost mobile-phone signals for the remotely controlled aircraft, they said.

Database matches in Lithuania and Finland pointed to the Belarusian suspect, who has prior criminal records in several countries, the reports said. He entered Germany on an Italian tourist visa issued in late April at an Italian diplomatic mission in Minsk.

The German government on Tuesday formally accused Russia of the attempted drone attack on Aug. 4 and announced sanctions.

The measures include closing the Russian Consulate General in Bonn by Sept. 18, ending a 2011 German-Russian agreement on cultural and information centers and forcing the closure of the Russian House in Berlin.

Germany also ordered staff of both missions and their families to leave the country as soon as possible.

Russia's Ambassador to Germany Sergey Nechayev rejected the accusations as "unproven," "absurd" and "contrary to common sense."

In a statement posted late Tuesday, Nechayev said: "The hastily concocted provocation at Leipzig Airport serves exclusively the interests of the Kyiv regime, the militarist wing of the European political class and the large companies of the military-industrial complex that are interested in further inflaming the Ukraine conflict."

Nechayev called the German measures “an unprecedented escalation in Russian-German relations” that “will not remain without consequences.”