Plane carrying EU’s top leader targeted by alleged Russian GPS jamming

A aircraft carrying the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was targeted by GPS navigation jamming while attempting to land in Bulgaria on Sunday, a spokesperson for the commission told GWN.

The commission acquired “information from Bulgarian authorities that they suspect this blatant interference was carried out by Russia,” the spokesperson said.

The aircraft landed safely, the spokesperson said. A source acquainted with the scenario told GWN the pilots landed the aircraft utilizing paper maps.

Von der Leyen and the commission have been staunch supporters of Ukraine as Kyiv tries to defend itself against Russia’s unprovoked aggression. She was one of the European leaders who attended US President Donald Trump’s summit on Ukraine last week and has persistently urged EU member states to allocate more sources to serving to Ukraine.

The incident occurred as she was touring member states in the japanese half of the bloc to rally assist for Ukraine. “This incident underlines the urgency of the President’s current trip to frontline Member States, where she has seen first hand the every day threats from Russia and its proxies,” the commission spokesperson told GWN.

GWN has reached out to the Bulgarian authorities for remark, and requested Russia to remark on the allegations.

GPS interference that causes disruptions to flights and maritime visitors has long been among the instruments in Russia’s hybrid warfare arsenal.

Authorities in Scandinavian and Baltic states have said repeatedly that Russia has been frequently jamming the GPS signal in the area. After a staff of researchers in Poland and Germany carefully studied GPS interferences for a period of six months beginning June 2024, they also concluded Russia was the perpetrator, and that Moscow was utilizing a shadow fleet of ships and its Kaliningrad exclave to do so.

The European Union has beforehand sanctioned a number of Russian state-linked entities and people for being behind jamming incidents.

“This will further reinforce our unshakable commitment to ramp up our defense capabilities and support for Ukraine,” the spokesperson added.

The journey to Bulgaria was half of von der Leyen’s tour of a number of European Union states that border Russia, Belarus and the Black Sea.

The journey was meant to show strength and unity as Russia continues to assault Ukrainian cities and sabotaging any makes an attempt to attain a ceasefire deal.

The president visited Latvia and Finland on Friday, Estonia on Saturday, and Poland and Bulgaria on Sunday. She was rounding up the journey on Monday, visiting Lithuania and Romania.

Speaking in Bulgaria’s capital shortly after the aircraft incident, but before it grew to become public, von der Leyen said Europe needed to “keep up the sense of urgency.”

“(Russian President Vladimir) Putin has not changed, and he will not change. He is a predator. He can only be kept in check through strong deterrence,” she said.

GWN’s Anna Chernova contributed reporting.

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