It was announced today that the plane carrying European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen suffered a suspected Russian jamming attack yesterday, which disabled its GPS navigation services. The aircraft was able to land at Plovdiv Airport, Bulgaria, thanks to the use of paper maps. "This was undeniable interference", explained one of the officials who dealt with the incident. "We have received information from the Bulgarian authorities that they suspect this is due to blatant interference by Russia", explained ad European Union spokesperson. "We are, of course, aware of and accustomed to the threats and intimidation that are a regular part of Russia's hostile behavior", he added. The Bulgarian air traffic services authority confirmed the incident to the "Financial Times", but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that the information the newspaper had "is incorrect".

"Overall, we have witnessed numerous jamming and spoofing activities, especially in the East. Europe is the region most affected by this phenomenon worldwide", a Commission spokesperson said. Jamming or spoofing refers to the distortion or blocking of access to satellite navigation systems, which were initially used by military and intelligence services for defensive purposes but have since been used, for example, by Russia as a form of attack; disruption of GPS could even cause a plane crash.

Von der Leyen was flying yesterday to Plovdiv from Warsaw, Poland, to visit a munitions plant and meet with Bulgarian Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov. The EU President was later able to return aboard the same aircraft without further problems.