A plane carrying European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen was reportedly targeted by GPS jamming over Bulgarian airspace in a suspected act of interference by Russia, a spokesperson said on Monday.
The aircraft, en route to Plovdiv Airport as part of Von Der Leyen’s tour of EU countries bordering Russia and Belarus, lost GPS signal as it approached the airport. However, her plane landed safely.
“We can indeed confirm that there was GPS jamming,” said Podestà. “We have received information from the Bulgarian authority that they suspect that this was due to blatant interference by Russia.”
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“This incident actually underlines the urgency of the mission that the president is carrying out in the front-line member states,” Podestà noted, adding that Von Der Leyen has witnessed “firsthand the everyday challenges of threats coming from Russia and its proxies.”
It is to be noted that Von Der Leyen is a prominent and vocal critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the Bulgarian government has also issued a statement saying that “the satellite signal used for the aircraft’s GPS navigation was disrupted. As the aircraft approached Plovdiv Airport, the GPS signal was lost.”
Despite the incident, Von Der Leyen is continuing with her scheduled tour. The European Commission also emphasised that the EU will strengthen its focus on defence readiness and investment in light of growing electronic and hybrid threats.
GPS jamming on the rise
GPS jamming incidents have significantly increased, particularly in the Baltic Sea region, since President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, hitting the Global Positioning System, or GPS, and affecting air and maritime communications.
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Estonia’s regulator said that 85% of flights in the country now experience disruption. They’ve also reported a rapid increase in intentional transmission of faulty coordinates, a practice known as spoofing.
