GERMANY’S Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul’s announcement on September 1 in response to the attempted attack in Leipzig aimed at nothing less than the destruction of Russian–German relations.

What the closure of the Russian consulate general in Bonn, of the Russian House in Berlin, and his announcement that Russian ships would in future be seized are supposed to have to do with the attempted attack remains the secret of the federal government.

No evidence, full escalation

What is certain, however, is that Berlin has presented neither proof nor evidence for the grave accusations against Russia. This deficiency weighs all the more heavily because, in the case of Nord Stream, the federal government likewise initially assumed Russian authorship.

In this way Chancellor Friedrich Merz himself opens the space for speculation of every kind. That the federal government has moreover refrained from requesting consultations in the Nato Council under Article 4 leaves open whether it even possesses usable material that would support its own accusations.

The more recent history of drone alarms, in any case, speaks against the haste with which Berlin once again pins the blame on Russia.

In none of the publicly hyped cases of recent years has a Russian perpetration been proven.

Where there actually was an explosion and enormous damage – at Nord Stream – the investigations were not directed towards Russia but against suspected perpetrators from Ukraine.

The political response was nevertheless not confrontation with Kiev, but the next multi-billion gift at the taxpayers’ expense.

To announce retaliation against the nuclear power Russia on September 1 of all days – the day on which Nazi Germany in 1939 exacted “retaliation” for an attack on the Gleiwitz radio station that it had itself staged – seems fitting.

Megalomania and historical amnesia increasingly mark the political style of the Merz government in the face of poll numbers that could hardly be worse.

The strategy of tension returns

It is clear that with this step by the federal government the path into escalation is already mapped out. The announcement that Russian ships are to be seized has the potential to lead rapidly to a direct military confrontation with Russia.

The premature attribution of authorship to Russia by the federal government, as in the case of Nord Stream, is alarming for another reason as well.

In the 1980s there was a Nato strategy, the strategy of tension, intended to delegitimise Nato-critical forces in the West. Attacks committed by neonazis, who in part had contacts with state agencies, were then pinned on the left.

Everything must be done to ensure that we do not experience a revival of this Nato strategy of tension. Europe needs peace, and Germany needs good economic, cultural and diplomatic relations with Russia. The federal government’s path into escalation and war is irresponsible.

Sevim Dagdelen is the author of the bestseller “Nato- A Reckoning” and was a member of the German Bundestag from 2005 to 2025.