EU President Ursula Von Der Leyen's Plane Hit By Suspected Russian GPS Interference

Last Updated:September 01, 2025, 16:34 IST

European Commission Ursula von der Leyen's plane GPS system was jammed over Bulgaria in a suspected Russian operation, according to a EU spokesperson.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. (Reuters File Image)

A plane carrying European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was hit by a radar jammer over Bulgaria, according to an EU spokesperson, in a suspected Russian interference operation.

EU spokesperson Arianna Podestà confirmed that the plane’s GPS system was jammed. “We can indeed confirm that there was GPS jamming, but the plane landed safely in Bulgaria. We have received information from the Bulgarian authorities that they suspect that this was due to blatant interference by Russia," the spokesperson said.

The plane managed to land safely in Plovdiv airport, and Von der Leyen will continue her planned tour of the European Union’s nations bordering Russia and Belarus.

Von der Leyen is a fierce critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Moscow’s war in Ukraine. “This incident actually underlines the urgency of the mission that the president is carrying out in the front-line member states," said Podestà.

She said that von der Leyen has seen “firsthand the everyday challenges of threats coming from Russia and its proxies" and that the EU will continue to invest in defence spending and combat readiness.

Meanwhile, Bulgaria issued a statement saying that “the satellite signal used for the aircraft’s GPS navigation was disrupted. As the aircraft approached Plovdiv Airport, the GPS signal was lost."

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". She called Putin a “predator and said he could only be kept in check through deterrence.

This came after authorities in Scandinavian and Baltic states have said repeatedly that Russia has been regularly jamming the GPS signal in the region, according to CNN.

A team of researchers in Poland and Germany conducted a six-month study of GPS interferences, starting in June 2024. It concluded that Russia was using a shadow fleet of ships, along with its Kaliningrad exclave, to do so.

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