Three officials familiar with the incident stated the Financial Times to suspect Russian interference signals.
“The whole area around the airport is left without a GPS signal,” one of the officials said. He circled the plane over an hour above Plovdiv, after which the pilot decided to land without electronic aids, relying on analog cards.
“It was undoubtedly about interference,” he added the same source.
The Bulgarian Air Traffic Control Service has confirmed the incident. “From February 2022. We record a significant increase in interference and recent fake GPS signals. These interruptions violate the correct signal reception and cause operational difficulties and systems on the country,” said in a statement.
Such disturbances of GPS, known as jamming and spoofing, has traditionally used military and intelligence services to protect sensitive locations. But in recent years, as European governments emphasize, Russia is increasingly using them to disrupt and civil life.
It warns that the increase in such attacks could cause a serious air accident, because the commercial planes thus “takes off sight.” The number of GPS interference cases has grown significantly in the Baltic countries and Eastern Europe, especially in areas near Russian borders.
Von Der Leyen arrived in Bulgaria from Warsaw to meet with Prime Minister Rosen Ljubavazkov and visited ammunition factory. The aim of the tour at the eastern border of the EU was to discuss strength the defensive willingness of the Union due to Russian aggression in Ukraine.
“Putin did not change, nor will he change. He is a predator. He can only stop him with strong deterrence,” Von der Leyen told reporters in Plovdiv.
Since the beginning of the war, Bulgaria was one of the key European suppliers of Ukraine military equipment – first Soviet weapons, and now modern artillery and ammunition of domestic production. The President of the European Commission has left Plovdiv without a problem with the same plane.
(Vijesti.ba)
