French spy chief warns of violent attacks on French soil after Leipzig drone incident

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PARIS — France should expect more violent attacks on its soil as hybrid warfare and foreign interference intensify across Europe, French security services said Wednesday.

Céline Berthon, director-general of the DGSI, cited this month’s discovery of an explosive device near a Ukrainian cargo plane at Germany’s Leipzig Airport. The airport is a key logistics hub for transporting military equipment to Ukraine.

“The discovery of an explosive drone in Leipzig serves as a warning that we must consider the possibility of direct, more violent hostile actions on our national soil,” said Berthon at La Ref, a high-profile gathering of business leaders in Paris.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Tuesday that the government was “working intensively” to identify who was behind the failed attack, which has not yet been attributed to anyone.

Berthon did not mention Russia in her remarks about Leipzig, but said earlier in her speech that “the hardening of Russia’s posture was a major element [of concern].”

“Since 2022, we have seen a dramatic and significant increase in acts of interference on our national territory,” she said, referencing high-profile symbolic assaults such as the spraying of Stars of David on buildings in Paris as well as disinformation campaigns run by Russia-affiliated networks.

“All of this is part of the onset of a war that is not a physical war, that is not a military war, that is not necessarily publicly acknowledged [as targeting] our soil, but already features attacks against our country,” Berthon said in her address at the Medef business lobby conference.