A plane carrying European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was forced to land at the airport of Plovdiv, Bulgaria, using paper maps because of GPS failures.

Source: Financial Times, as reported by European Pravda

Details: FT says that the plane carrying the European Commission president lost electronic navigation systems while approaching Plovdiv airport.

Three informed officials reported that the incident is being treated as an act of Russian interference.

“The whole airport area GPS went dark,” one of the officials said.

After circling above the airport for an hour, the pilot decided to land manually using paper maps, they added.

“It was undeniable interference,” another source stated.

The Bulgarian air traffic control service confirmed the incident in a statement to the Financial Times: “Since February 2022, there has been a notable increase in [GPS] jamming and recently spoofing occurrences.”

Such disruptions affect the accuracy of GPS reception, leading to various operational problems for aircraft and ground systems.

Von der Leyen was flying from Warsaw to Plovdiv to meet Bulgarian Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov and to visit an ammunition factory.

After the visit, the European Commission president left Plovdiv without incident on the same aircraft.

Background:

Estonia previously said that GPS interference constitutes a violation of international law by Russia.Recently, 13 EU countries called on the European Commission to take measures in response to disruptions of the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) across the EU.

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