Russian interference suspected of GPS jamming of the EU chief’s plane over Bulgaria

A plane carrying the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen was struck by the fog of general practitioners on Bulgaria in an alleged Russian operation, a spokesman said on Monday.

The plane landed safely at Plovdiv airport and von der Leyen will continue its planned nations of the European Union limiting Russia and Bélarus, said spokesperson for the Arianna Podesta commission.

“We can indeed confirm that there was a GPS jamming,” said Podesta. “We have received information from the Bulgarian authority that they suspect that this was due to a blatant interference from Russia.”

The incident with the Von der Leyen plane is the last in a series involving alleged Russian electronic interference with GPS satellite navigation. For months, the neighboring countries of Russia – including Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia – have warned of increased electronic activity interfering with flights, ships and drones.

Russian authorities have not immediately responded to requests for comments.

Von der Leyen, a fierce critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Moscow War in Ukraine, is on four days in the EU nations limiting Russia and its ally Belarus.

“This incident in fact highlights the urgency of the mission that the president performs in front line member states,” said Podesta.

She said that Von Der Leyen saw “first -hand the daily challenges of threats from Russia and its proxies”.

“And, of course, the EU will continue to invest in defense expenses and in the preparation of Europe even more after this incident,” she said.

Bulgaria published a statement saying that during the flight of Von Der Leyen from Warsaw to Plovdiv, the second largest city in Bulgaria, on a private jet chartered by the European Commission, “the satellite signal used for the GPS navigation of the plane was disrupted.”

“While the plane approached Plovdiv airport, the GPS signal was lost,” the statement said. He said that the Bulgarian civil aviation authority asked the pilots to use help navigation to land the plane.

Russian interference

Since the large -scale invasion of Ukraine by Moscow in 2022, Western officials have accused Russia and its staging agents of dozens of attacks and other incidents, ranging from vandalism to criminal fire and an assassination attempt.

Russia’s interference includes scrambling and usurpation. The jamming means that a strong radio signal overwhelms communications, while the usurpation misleads a receiver thinking that it is in a different place or in a past or future period.

In August, the Latvia electronic communications office said that it had identified at least three hot spots to block along borders with Russia. In April 2024, a Finnish airline temporarily suspended flights to the Estonian city of Tartu after a scrambling, while in March of the same year, a plane carrying the British Secretary to Defense had its scrambled satellite signal while he was flying near Russian territory.

The office said that although Russia maintains the scrambling is defensive, the frequency has increased as interference extends more from the borders of Russia.

Sweden air traffic controllers and air traffic controllers “reinvent old school methods to navigate because they can no longer count on GPS,” said Eric Shrieten, intelligence analyst and CEO of Dyami Security Intelligence based in Utrecht, the Netherlands. He said it is unlikely that Russia has specifically targeted von der Leyen.

“Russia knew it came,” said Shheten. “They can just go up the button a bit to be an irritating neighbor.”