According to the investigation, the incident involving drones at Leipzig Airport in Germany occurred in early August 2026. One of the drones carrying explosives crashed into the wing of a Ukrainian An-124 cargo plane, but ricocheted and did not explode.
The authors of the material claim that there were about 25,000 liters of aviation fuel on board the aircraft, and the explosion, according to investigators' estimates, would have caused colossal damage. The Telegraph and Welt am Sonntag write that Levushkin flew to Germany via Turkey and, in a rented car, visited several places where, allegedly, weapons could have been hidden.
According to the publication, on July 31 he conducted reconnaissance of the Leipzig Airport area, and the explosives were delivered through Bulgaria and Serbia in caches hidden in trucks. The journalists also write that Levushkin has long been acquainted with GRU Colonel Denis Smolyaninov, who heads the department specializing in sabotage abroad.
The identity of Karshakov, the authors of the investigation claim, was established from DNA traces on one of the drones and on the antenna attached to a tree near the airport. A database check showed that he is a Belarusian citizen who entered the European Union on an Italian visa obtained in Minsk; The Telegraph and Welt am Sonntag call him a “one-time agent”.
According to the investigation and a publication by the outlet Agentstvo, Levushkin lived in Riga until at least 2018, then moved to the Pskov region, and later to Sevastopol, annexed by Russia. The journalists link the episode to GRU Unit 29155, which is believed to have been involved in the poisoning of Sergei Skripal in the United Kingdom and other sabotage operations in the West.
German authorities had previously officially accused Russia of sabotage at Leipzig Airport, after which Berlin decided to close the so-called Russian House and the country's last Russian consulate general. Russia in response announced the closure of Germany's consulate general in St. Petersburg and branches of the Goethe-Institut, while the investigation has so far neither confirmed nor denied media claims about the alleged participants in the operation.
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