The European Commission said the navigation system of an aircraft carrying Ursula von Der Leyen was interrupted due to suspected Russian intervention.
A spokesperson said that “GPS Jaming” took place, while the chairman of the Commission was scheduled to come to Southern Bulgaria on Sunday, but she still landed safely.
He said: “We have received information from Bulgarian officials that they suspect that it was due to clear intervention by Russia.”
The Financial Times, citing anonymous officials, said that the aircraft of von Der Leyen had to land at the Plovdive Airport with pilots using paper maps.
The European Commission stated that “threats and threats is a regular component of Russia’s hostile tasks” and this event would strengthen its commitment to “our defense abilities and support for Ukraine”.
The Bulgarian government confirmed that, during the flight, “the satellite signal broadcast of the aircraft’s GPS navigation system was ineffective”.
The statement continued: “To ensure flight safety, air control services immediately offered an alternative landing method using terrestrial navigation equipment.”
Kremlin spokesman Dimitri Peskov Told FT Its information was “wrong”.
The Air Traffic Services Authority of Bulgaria told the paper that there was a “significant increase” in the navigation jam since January 2022.
Experts have Warned before This Russia satellite was causing disruption in navigation systems – affecting thousands of civil flights.
Cyril Rosa, a senior cyber security expert at the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), told the BBC that such cases had deteriorated since Russia’s full -scale invasion in Ukraine, Russia.
Moscow has regularly refused to scrape satellite-based systems, which are used to determine the space of the aircraft.
Von Der Leyen was visiting Bulgaria as part of the Eastern European Union states to discuss defense readiness.
The commission spokesman said that he had first seen the threats of every day behind Russia and its screen during the tour “.
