Sergej Lawrow's 'real war' is a lie to mask Russian aggression
By Elena Rossi · Reporting from Rome ·
The Kremlin has always been fond of semantic gymnastics, but Sergej Lawrow’s latest performance is a masterclass in the art of the inversion.
Sergej Lawrow is flipping the script. By claiming Germany’s response to a drone attack marks the "beginning of a real war," the Russian Foreign Minister casts the victim as the aggressor. He wants the defense of parliaments and courts to look as if Germany is provoking Russia, turning a security breach into a diplomatic weapon.
The Leipzig Drone Attack
On August 4, security forces found a drone carrying high explosives parked next to a Ukrainian cargo plane at Leipzig/Halle Airport. After a month of investigation, Chancellor Friedrich Merz called Russian responsibility "undeniable" and "court-proof." Der Spiegel and The Moscow Times report that Berlin responded by ordering the closure of the Russian Consulate General in Bonn and the Russian House in Berlin, forcing diplomats to pack their crates and vacate.
Lawrow said Merz is "effectively declaring war" by trying to make Germany the leading military power in Europe. He argues that Germany is trading its post-war pacifism for a militarism that threatens the border between NATO and Russia. This is a mirror-image lie. A state does not "declare war" by expelling the diplomats of a country that flew a drone into its airport. Russia used this same rebranding of aggression as defense during the 2014 Annexation of Crimea and the seizure of Sevastopol.
Why the Cold War Logic Returns?
This is the Cold War reborn. That era relied on superpower rivalries, spoofed GPS signals, and diplomatic expulsions to prevent direct combat. Now, the conflict returns to bot farms and the strategic closing of embassies. Instead of tanks in the streets, the war unfolds via leaked emails, midnight raids on consulate offices, and the quiet revocation of visas.
This mirrors the Skripal poisonings in Salisbury, when nations traded diplomats like currency to signal resolve. It echoes the 2016 Russian interference in US elections, where the target avoided the parliament and instead hit the voting booths of the American Midwest. Russia does not want a "real war"; it wants a Europe too frightened to act, paralyzed by the fear of its own strength.
Russia may retaliate by expelling more attachés and revoking visas for trade delegates or launching cyberattacks to crash the servers of the Leipzig investigation. Lawrow’s rhetoric allows Moscow to frame such aggression as a defensive response. If Moscow shuts down its remaining offices, the act represents a tactical retreat, not a diplomatic failure.
Merz’s plan to build the EU’s strongest army—focusing on rapid-deployment brigades and Leopard tanks—is the only language the Kremlin respects. For too long, Europe relied on a peace that Russia never intended to keep, ignoring the buildup of missiles on its eastern flank. Germany is finally speaking clearly, and the Kremlin trembles.
Sources
- Der Spiegel: Sergej Lawrow: Russischer Außenminister spricht von »Beginn eines echten Krieges«
- The Moscow Times: Russia’s Lavrov Calls Accusations of Moscow’s Involvement in Leipzig Drone Incident ‘Start of Real War'
- Anadolu Agency: Moscow calls accusations over the Leipzig drones 'the beginning of a real war'