Plane carrying EU’s top leader targeted by alleged Russian GPS jamming

By Ivana Kottasová, CNN

(CNN) — A plane carrying the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was targeted by GPS navigation jamming while trying to land in Bulgaria on Sunday, a spokesperson for the commission told CNN.

The commission received “information from Bulgarian authorities that they suspect this blatant interference was carried out by Russia,” said European Commission Deputy Chief Spokesperson Arianna Podestà.

The Kremlin has denied the allegation, with Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova saying claims of Moscow’s involvement were “fake,” calling it “paranoia” from Europe during a press conference on Thursday.

The plane landed safely, the European Commission spokesperson said. A source familiar with the situation told CNN the pilots landed the plane using paper maps.

Von der Leyen and the commission have been staunch supporters of Ukraine as Kyiv tries to defend itself against Russia’s unprovoked aggression. She was one of the European leaders who attended US President Donald Trump’s summit on Ukraine and has consistently urged EU member states to allocate more resources to helping Ukraine.

The incident occurred as the president was about to land at the Plovdiv International Airport in the south of Bulgaria, part of her tour around member states in the eastern part of the bloc to rally support for Ukraine.

“This incident underlines the urgency of the president’s current trip to frontline Member States, where she has seen first hand the every day threats from Russia and its proxies,” Podestà told CNN.

She later added the flight was a charter and that it was unclear whether the attackers intended to target it directly.

CNN has reached out to the Bulgarian authorities for comment.

GPS interference that causes disruptions to flights and maritime traffic has long been among the tools in Russia’s hybrid war arsenal.

Authorities in Scandinavian and Baltic states have said repeatedly that Russia has been regularly jamming the GPS signal in the region. After a team of researchers in Poland and Germany closely studied GPS interferences for a period of six months starting June 2024, they also concluded Russia was the perpetrator, and that Moscow was using a shadow fleet of ships and its Kaliningrad exclave to do so.

The European Union has previously sanctioned several Russian state-linked entities and individuals for being behind jamming incidents.

“This will further reinforce our unshakable commitment to ramp up our defense capabilities and support for Ukraine,” the spokesperson added.

The trip to Bulgaria was part of von der Leyen’s tour of several European Union states that border Russia, Belarus and the Black Sea.

The trip was meant to show strength and unity as Russia continues to attack Ukrainian cities and sabotaging any attempts to reach a ceasefire deal.

The president visited Latvia and Finland on Friday, Estonia on Saturday, and Poland and Bulgaria on Sunday. She was rounding up the trip on Monday, visiting Lithuania and Romania.

Speaking in Bulgaria’s capital shortly after the plane incident, but before it became public, von der Leyen said Europe needed to “keep up the sense of urgency.”

“(Russian President Vladimir) Putin has not changed, and he will not change. He is a predator. He can only be kept in check through strong deterrence,” she said.

This story has been updated with additional information.

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CNN’s Anna Chernova and James Frater contributed reporting.