Bulgaria Dismisses Russia’s Denials After GPS Jamming Disrupts von der Leyen’s Flight

Bulgaria’s interior minister Daniel Mitov has said Moscow’s denials of involvement in a serious navigation incident affecting European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s plane are meaningless, warning that interference with GPS systems has become a persistent risk since the start of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine.

The Gaze reports this, referring to Mitov’s interview to Bulgarian National Television

He said that authorities had investigated whether a cyberattack was behind the disruption but quickly ruled out that possibility. He noted that GPS jamming has been “constant” since 2022.

“Whether Moscow denies or not has no importance,” Mitov said. “Russia once denied that its troops were in Crimea. We are used to the fact that no reliable information can be obtained from there. What matters is establishing what actually happened.”

The incident took place on August 31 as von der Leyen’s aircraft was approaching Plovdiv after a flight from Warsaw. 

According to officials cited by the Financial Times, GPS signals in the entire airport area stopped working, leaving the crew without electronic navigation. After circling for nearly an hour, the pilots were forced to land manually using paper charts. 

Von der Leyen had been traveling to Bulgaria for talks with Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov and a visit to a local munitions factory. She departed Plovdiv without further incident on the same aircraft.

As The Gaze reported earlier, the Baltic states sounded the alarm over a surge in electronic warfare activity, accusing Russia of dramatically intensifying radio and satellite interference along NATO’s eastern flank.