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Russia has been accused of jamming the GPS of the airplane carrying Ursula von der Leyen during her official visit to Bulgaria on Sunday.
The incident, first reported by the Financial Times, forced the plane to land at the city of Plovdiv using paper maps, rather than the conventional electronic system.
“We can confirm there was GPS jamming, but the plane landed safely. We have received information from Bulgarian authorities that they suspect this blatant interference was carried out by Russia,” a Commission spokesperson said on Monday.
“We are well aware that threats and intimidation are a regular component of Russia’s hostile actions. This will further reinforce our unshakable commitment to ramp up our defence capabilities and support for Ukraine.”
There was no change in the scheduled route, the spokesperson noted.
Von der Leyen’s visit to Bulgaria was part of her tour of member states that border Russia and Belarus, aimed at expressing solidarity and promoting the European Union’s €800-billion plan to ramp up defence spending.
“We have to keep up the sense of urgency,” she said in Bulgaria, speaking next to Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov.
“Putin has not changed, and he will not change. He is a predator. He can only be kept in check through strong deterrence.”
Russia has been repeatedly accused of meddling with the GPS systems of Eastern European countries in a pattern that has been described as hybrid warfare, comparable to sabotage incidents of underwater cables and campaigns of instrumentalised migration.