_descr”>© EPA/FILIP SINGER He stressed that NATO “will do everything to ensure that the Russians cannot do this again.”
NATO is working to counter Russian radio interference to civil aviation after the incident with the plane of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, which lost access to GPS navigation in the skies over Bulgaria.
This was stated by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at a press conference in Luxembourg, Euronews reports.
The incident occurred on September 1, when a European Commission plane landed safely despite the crew being unable to use navigation systems. Bulgarian authorities said they suspected Russia of causing the obstruction.
“We are all under direct threat from the Russians, regardless of whether you live in London or Tallinn,” Rutte stressed.
He stressed that NATO is “working day and night” to prevent similar incidents from happening again: “We take this very seriously and will do everything to ensure that they cannot do this again.”
The NATO Secretary General explained that these are elements of a broader hybrid campaign by Moscow. It includes GPS jamming, attacks on undersea cables in the Baltic Sea, as well as cyberattacks, including on the British National Health Service.
“I’ve always hated the word ‘hybrid’ because it sounds too soft. In reality, these are attempts to harm civilian aircraft, and the consequences could be catastrophic,” he added.
According to Euronews, the incident with von der Leyen’s plane was the latest in a series of attacks that European governments have blamed on Russia, with the head of Britain’s foreign intelligence service previously calling such actions “shockingly reckless”.
Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Western intelligence agencies have recorded dozens of hybrid operations, including vandalism, arson, and attempted assassinations. Radio interference from the Russian side can be carried out both by “jamming,” that is, blocking the signal, and by “spoofing” — when the navigation system receives false coordinates.
Rutte also warned that the risks concern the whole of Europe: “The threat from Russia is growing every day. Let’s not be naive: it could affect both Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Given the latest Russian missiles, the time distance between Lithuania and Madrid could be only a few minutes.”
At the same time, Bulgarian Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov said that his country does not plan to investigate the incident with von der Leyen’s plane. In his opinion, such incidents are “a side effect of Russia’s war against Ukraine” that have become commonplace in European skies.
Recall that on the evening of September 2, returning from Helsinki, the plane of Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda was unable to immediately land in Vilnius and circled over the center of the country for some time.