Russia is suspected of jamming navigation on EU leader’s plane above Bulgaria, an official says

BRUSSELS (AP) — A plane carrying European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was hit by GPS jamming over Bulgaria in a suspected Russian operation, a spokesperson said Monday.

The plane landed safely in Plovdiv airport and von der Leyen will continue her planned tour of the European Union’s nations bordering Russia and Belarus, said the commission’s spokesperson Arianna Podestà.

“We can indeed confirm that there was GPS jamming,” said Podestà. “We have received information from the Bulgarian authority that they suspect that this was due to blatant interference by Russia.”

Von der Leyen, a fierce critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Moscow’s war in Ukraine, is on a four-day tour of the EU nations bordering Russia and its ally Belarus.

“This incident actually underlines the urgency of the mission that the president is carrying out in the front-line member states,” Podestà said.

She said that von der Leyen has seen “firsthand the everyday challenges of threats coming from Russia and its proxies.”

“And, of course, the EU will continue to invest into defense spending and in Europe’s readiness even more after this incident,” she said.

Bulgaria issued a statement saying that “the satellite signal used for the aircraft’s GPS navigation was disrupted. As the aircraft approached Plovdiv Airport, the GPS signal was lost.”

Von der Leyen was scheduled to address a news conference at 1430 GMT in Romania.