A plane carrying the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was targeted by GPS navigation jamming while trying to land in Bulgaria, a spokesperson for the commission told CNN.
The commission received “information from Bulgarian authorities that they suspect this blatant interference was carried out by Russia,” said European Commission deputy chief spokesperson Arianna Podesta.
The Kremlin has denied the allegation, with spokesperson Dmitry Peskov telling UK newspaper The Financial Times, which first reported on the story, “your information is incorrect.”
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The plane landed safely on Sunday, the European Commission spokesperson said. A source familiar with the situation told CNN the pilots landed the plane using paper maps.
Von der Leyen and the commission have been staunch supporters of Ukraine as Kyiv tries to defend itself against Russia’s unprovoked aggression.
She was one of the European leaders who attended US President Donald Trump’s summit on Ukraine last week and has consistently urged EU member states to allocate more resources to helping Ukraine.
The incident occurred as the president was about to land at the Plovdiv International Airport in the south of Bulgaria, part of her tour around member states in the eastern part of the bloc to rally support for Ukraine.
“This incident underlines the urgency of the president’s current trip to frontline member states, where she has seen first hand the every day threats from Russia and its proxies,” Podesta said.
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She later added the flight was a charter and that it was unclear whether the attackers intended to target it directly.
CNN has reached out to the Bulgarian authorities for comment.
GPS interference that causes disruptions to flights and maritime traffic has long been among the tools in Russia’s hybrid war arsenal.
The European Union has previously sanctioned several Russian state-linked entities and individuals for being behind jamming incidents.
Von der Leyen visited Latvia and Finland on Friday, Estonia on Saturday, and Poland and Bulgaria on Sunday. She was rounding up the trip on Monday, visiting Lithuania and Romania.
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.”
“(Russian President Vladimir) Putin has not changed, and he will not change. He is a predator. He can only be kept in check through strong deterrence,” she said.
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