Russia feared to have hit Spanish Air Force plane in latest GPS attack - with country's defence minister on board
Russia is feared to have carried out a GPS attack on a Spanish Air Force plane carrying the country’s defence minister.
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The Spanish Airbus A330 was carrying Margarita Robles over the Russian area of Kaliningrad heading to Lithuania when an attempt was made to interfere with its navigation systems.
A commander on board the plane said that such events can be common when flying near Kaliningrad - either for civil or military aircraft.
A Spanish defence ministry spokesperson said: "There has been an attempt to disrupt the GPS signal, but as our aircraft has an encrypted system, it was not affected.
"It must be common on this route and also with commercial flights. It is not because it is our aircraft."
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Ms Robles was due to meet with her Liithuanian counterpart Dovile Sakaliene on a visit to an airbase.
The plane was also carrying relatives of Spanish airmen forming part of the new NATO defence mission on Europe’s eastern flank.
The plane’s pilot was forced into landing using paper maps.
The jet, which was carrying Ms von der Leyen to Plovdiv in Bulgaria, had its GPS navigation systems disabled and was forced to circle the airport for an hour.
Officials described it as an incident of “undeniable interference.”
A European Commission spokeswoman said: “We can confirm there was GPS jamming but the plane landed safe.
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“We have received information from Bulgarian authorities that they suspect this blatant interference was carried out by Russia. We are well aware that threats and intimidation are a regular component of Russia’s hostile actions.”
Ms Von der Leyen was travelling from Poland to Bulgaria as part of a seven-country tour of the European Union’s front-line states to pledge the bloc’s support in the face of Russian aggression.
On a visit to the Poland-Belarus border, she said: “We have to keep the sense of urgency because we know that Putin has [not changed] and will not change.”