{"id":92291,"date":"2025-09-01T17:13:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-01T17:13:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=92291"},"modified":"2025-09-01T17:13:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T17:13:13","slug":"eu-chief-von-der-leyens-plane-hit-by-suspected-russian-gps-jamming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=92291","title":{"rendered":"EU chief von der Leyen\u2019s plane hit by suspected Russian GPS jamming"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>1 Minute, 34 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>
\n

The navigation system of a plane carrying Ursula von der Leyen was disrupted due to suspected Russian interference, the European Commission said.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson said the \u201cGPS jamming\u201d happened while the Commission president was about to arrive in southern Bulgaria on Sunday, but she still landed safely.<\/p>\n

They added: \u201cWe have received information from the Bulgarian authorities that they suspect that this was due to blatant interference by Russia.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Financial Times, citing unnamed officials, reported that von der Leyen\u2019s plane had to land at Plovdiv Airport with the pilots using paper maps.<\/p>\n

The European Commission said \u201cthreats and intimidation are a regular component of Russia\u2019s hostile actions\u201d and that the incident would reinforce its commitment to \u201cramp up our defence capabilities and support for Ukraine\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Bulgarian government confirmed that, during the flight, \u201cthe satellite signal transmitting information to the plane\u2019s GPS navigation system was neutralised\u201d.<\/p>\n

The statement continued: \u201cTo ensure the flight\u2019s safety, air control services immediately offered an alternative landing method using terrestrial navigation tools.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov\u00a0told the FT\u00a0that its information was \u201cincorrect\u201d.<\/p>\n

Bulgaria\u2019s Air Traffic Services Authority told the paper that there had been a \u201cnotable increase\u201d in navigation jamming since January 2022.<\/p>\n

Experts have\u00a0have previously warned\u00a0that Russia was causing disruption to satellite navigation systems \u2013 affecting thousands of civilian flights.<\/p>\n

Cyrille Rosay, a senior cybersecurity expert at the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), told the BBC that such cases had worsened since Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Moscow has regularly denied scrambling the satellite-based systems, which are used to determine a plane\u2019s location.<\/p>\n

Von der Leyen was visiting Bulgaria as part of a tour of eastern EU states to discuss defence readiness.<\/p>\n

A Commission spokesperson said she had \u201cseen first hand the every day threats from Russia and its proxies\u201d during the tour.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n \n
\n \n \"Happy\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Happy <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n \n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Sad\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Sad <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Excited\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Excited <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Sleepy\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Sleepy <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n \n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Angry\"\n <\/a>\n
Angry<\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Surprise\"\n <\/a>\n
Surprise<\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\"EUThe navigation system of a plane carrying Ursula von der Leyen was disrupted due to suspected Russian interference, the European Commission said.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7726,1910,10,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-92291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-european-commission","category-international","category-politics","category-popular"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=92291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92291\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=92291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=92291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=92291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}