The plane carrying European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Sunday to Bulgaria had to land manually—forcing the pilots to consult physical maps—after interference with the GPS system prevented the use of standard electronic devices. According to a European Commission spokesperson, all suspicions point to Moscow.
"We can confirm that there was GPS interference, but the plane landed safely," said a spokeswoman for the EU executive. According to Brussels, the alert came from the Bulgarian authorities, who"suspect that this blatant interference was perpetrated by Russia." Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, denied the report, which was first reported by the Financial Times."Their information is incorrect," he responded at a press conference.
The plane Von der Leyen was traveling on was a chartered one, as the EU government does not have its own planes for the travel of its senior officials. The aircraft was traveling from Poland to Bulgaria and had to land manually in Plovdiv, the city where it was scheduled to land. She wasn't the only one affected: the airport's own navigation systems lost information.
The incident comes amid political and military turmoil regarding the European role in resolving the war in Ukraine. Just a few days ago, Russia launched a brutal attack on kyiv with missiles and drones, which led to the destruction of the EU headquarters in the Ukrainian capital. The German leader was recently on a tour of countries bordering Russia to demonstrate EU support in the face of the Kremlin's threats. Furthermore, Brussels is already finalizing a new package of sanctions against Moscow, which it believes is delaying US-led peace efforts.
On a complementary note, France has announced a new meeting of the so-called Coalition of the Willing, the European countries leading aid efforts in kyiv to try to end the war, will be held this Thursday in Paris. Security guarantees for Ukraine and Russia's"stubborn" refusal to enter into peace talks, according to sources at the Élysée Palace. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will participate, among others.
Attempt at “intimidation”
"We are well aware that threats and intimidation are a common component of Russia's hostile actions," the European Executive added regarding the incident. In its view, this attempt only"underscores the urgency of the President's current trip to the frontline Member States, where she has seen firsthand the daily threats from Russia and its allies."
Following the incident, Von der Leyen continued her tour of Lithuania on Monday, where she visited the border with Belarus. The German politician posted a video on social media showing her flying in a helicopter with the country's president, Gitanas Nauseda.
"I'm here to reaffirm Europe's solidarity with Lithuania. We need a strong Lithuania to protect our borders and our people," stressed the head of the European Executive, who began her tour in Latvia last Friday with a visit to a European-funded drone factory.
From there, the German announced a"European success" against the Russian threat: the €150 billion in loans for joint arms purchases under the SAFE mechanism approved this year have already been allocated to the 19 countries that requested them—including Spain—a process that Brussels wants to accelerate in order to begin disbursing the first funds before the end of the year. During her visit, the head of the European Executive also confirmed this weekend her intention to present within a month, during the informal meeting of heads of state and government in Denmark on October 1, the"roadmap" requested during their last summit in June to comply with the plans to increase the bloc's security and defense by 2030.
Von der Leyen's tour concluded this Monday in Romania, where she discussed with the Romanian government and military officials"EU-NATO cooperation, as well as the prevention, detection, defense, and deterrence of maritime and hybrid threats," according to her agenda.
The German will be back in Brussels in time for the Commission to begin collecting proposals from member states this week to draft the new sanctions package, the nineteenth, against Russia, which Von der Leyen has said she wants approved this September. The new sanctions were a major part of the agenda at the informal meeting of foreign ministers in Copenhagen last Saturday.
In the closed-door debate, the ministers also discussed the possibility of beginning to impose secondary sanctions on countries (and not just specific companies or financial institutions, as was done in the 18th package) that help Moscow evade European restrictions. European Foreign Minister Kaja Kallas also stressed the importance of European sanctions being accompanied by similar measures from the United States, where a similar package is practically on the verge of approval, pending only President Donald Trump's indication of his intention to sign it, something he has not yet made clear.
At Ukraine's request, the latest wave of attacks on kyiv was also discussed this Monday at an extraordinary meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council in Brussels.
