Build defences, but avoid Putin's 'escalation trap', says German defence minister

Germany must improve its anti-drone defences, its defence minister said, but warned against a hasty response to airspace incursions by Russia which would risk falling into "Putin's escalation trap". Boris Pistorius' remarks in an interview with Handelsblatt newspaper followed drone sightings at Munich Airport that cancelled dozens of flights and stranded over 10,000 passengers this weekend. Authorities have yet to attribute blame, but officials have said Russia was responsible for dozens of recent aircraft incursions and sightings in the airspace of Ukraine's European allies. "Putin knows Germany very, very well," Pistorius said of the Russian President, who was a KGB agent in East Germany in the 1980s. "We mustn't fall into Putin's escalation trap," he added. "If we shot an...