Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov said on Tuesday there was no reason to open an investigation into an incident involving European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s aircraft, after its GPS signal was jammed while approaching Plovdiv Airport.
The Bulgarian government said on Monday the aircraft temporarily lost its satellite signal on Sunday, prompting air traffic controllers to switch to ground-based navigation systems to ensure a safe landing.
European Commission spokesperson Arianna Podesta told reporters in Brussels that Bulgarian authorities suspect the disruption was caused by Russian interference.
Zhelyazkov said GPS jamming was not considered a hybrid or cyber threat and was part of a wider pattern of electronic warfare observed since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
“Such interference has been detected in many regions, from Helsinki to the Black Sea, Yerevan, Tbilisi, Cyprus, Syria and Tripoli,” he told reporters in Burgas. “These are examples of disruptions to the radio frequency spectrum used by GPS satellites orbiting some 20 km above Earth.”
The prime minister stressed that the disruption was not directed at von der Leyen’s aircraft in particular, and the crew handled the situation according to international protocols.
“Such events occur on a daily basis, and aircraft have been taking off and landing long before GPS systems existed,” Zhelyazkov said.
He added that Bulgaria’s air traffic control acted in line with European Union Aviation Safety Agency rules and that the incident was no different from other cases linked to the use of electronic warfare in the region.
“Unfortunately, this is one of the side effects, though not a minor one, of such conflicts,” Zhelyazkov said.