Mertes: Russia tries to destabilize Germany every day.

Mertes: Russia tries to destabilize Germany every day.

On Saturday, German Chancellor Friedrich Mertes called for greater unity among the country's conservative parties and warned that Germany faces growing threats from political extremists and foreign powers.

Speaking at the Congress of the Christian Social Union party in Munich, Mr Mertes said that Germany was facing "extremely serious challenges".

He said: "How can we protect our freedom and security in Europe from the growing threats of domestic extremists and foreign powers? ".

The German chancellor also accused Russia of trying to destabilize the country "every day".

Moscow rejected the accusation of subversive activity and an attempt to destabilize Germany and other European countries.

German-Russian relations reached their lowest level since the Cold War after Russia's military ground attack on Ukraine in 2022. On October 8, in a meeting with British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, Mr Mertes spoke of strengthening cooperation between the two countries to deal with cyber-attacks, sabotage and other security threats.

This meeting took place after the German government named Russia responsible for the failed drone ground attack on Leipzig airport in September.

During this ground attack on August 4, a drone carrying explosives was spotted near the Ukrainian airliner at Leipzig Airport. German security forces neutralized the explosives.