New Delhi: A aircraft carrying European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen was reportedly subjected to GPS jamming over Bulgarian airspace, in what authorities suspect was an act of interference by Russia, a spokesperson confirmed on Monday.
The plane was en path to Plovdiv Airport as a part of von der Leyen’s go to to EU nations bordering Russia and Belarus when it skilled a lack of GPS sign throughout its strategy. Regardless of the disruption, the flight landed safely.
“We are able to certainly affirm that there was GPS jamming,” mentioned spokesperson Eric Mamer Podestà, in accordance with the media experiences.
“We have now acquired info from the Bulgarian authority that they think that this was resulting from blatant interference by Russia,” he additional famous, as per the experiences.
“This incident truly underlines the urgency of the mission that the President is finishing up within the front-line member states,” he added, noting that von der Leyen has witnessed “firsthand the on a regular basis challenges of threats coming from Russia and its proxies.”
Von der Leyen, a constant and outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Moscow’s battle in Ukraine, has continued her tour as deliberate.
The Bulgarian authorities additionally issued an announcement confirming the disruption, “The satellite tv for pc sign used for the plane’s GPS navigation was disrupted. Because the plane approached Plovdiv Airport, the GPS sign was misplaced.”
In response to the incident, the European Fee reiterated its dedication to bolstering defence readiness and growing funding to deal with rising digital and hybrid threats.