Ursula von der Leyen's aircraft, carrying the Chairperson of the European Commission, was subjected to interference with global positioning system (GPS) signals, which is presumed to have originated from Russia. The European Commission described the incident as part of hostile actions perpetrated by Russia and strongly protested.
The European Commission announced that on the 1st (local time), the aircraft carrying Chairperson von der Leyen experienced GPS signal interference while approaching Plovdiv Airport in southern Bulgaria the previous day. The aircraft landed safely under the guidance of ground control based on the pilot's judgment. The Financial Times (FT) reported that the aircraft landed using paper maps at that time.
Ariana Podesta, deputy spokesperson for the European Commission, noted, "We received information from Bulgarian authorities suggesting that it was a blatant jamming by Russia." He emphasized that "threats and intimidation are regular elements of hostile activities conducted by Russia," stating that this incident highlighted the need for stronger European defense capabilities and support for Ukraine. However, when asked whether the attack specifically targeted Chairperson von der Leyen, he avoided giving a direct answer, saying it was "a question to ask Russia."
Chairperson von der Leyen was on a visit to the EU's eastern frontline countries that share a border with Russia. Her schedule included discussions on European rearmament plans while traveling through Latvia, Finland, Estonia, Poland, Lithuania, and Bulgaria. During her trip, she criticized, "Putin (the President of Russia) has not changed, and he will not change in the future. He is a predator."
Russia has fully denied the related allegations. Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesperson, rebutted in an FT interview, "Your information is inaccurate."
GPS interference is conducted through methods like jamming, which fires signals stronger than those from artificial satellites to disable navigation devices, or spoofing, which sends false signals to mislead location information. According to FT, instances of GPS interference surged around the Baltic Sea coast and near Russian offshore territory Kaliningrad after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. In March, a military aircraft carrying then British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps experienced a loss of GPS signal for about 30 minutes while flying near Kaliningrad. Finnish national airline Finnair temporarily suspended operations on the Tartu route to Estonia due to GPS interference.
The aircraft is equipped with various alternative navigation systems in addition to GPS, so the likelihood that signal interference would immediately lead to a major accident is low. The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) explained that "the aircraft's multisection navigation systems do not rely solely on GPS" and that "the interference does not directly impact the aircraft's operation."
However, experts warned that the normalization of jamming activities could pose a serious threat to aviation safety. The Lithuanian foreign minister compared GPS interference to "someone turning off the headlights while driving at night." Kear Giles, a senior research fellow at the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House), pointed out that "GPS service interference, once taken for granted, has become a regular feature of flights near Russia," noting that the interference activities conducted by Russia continue to expand, yet no one is stopping them.