Von der Leyen's plane suffers alleged Russian interference and lands with analog maps

BrusselsThe plane of the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has allegedly been attacked by Russia. According to the Financial Times And ARA has been able to confirm, the aircraft's GPS navigation system was reportedly interfered with by Russian intelligence services, forcing the head of the EU executive to land in the Bulgarian city of Plovdiv using analog maps.

EU sources explain that the plane's entire navigation system suddenly crashed and that Bulgarian authorities are investigating the events as a possible attack by the Kremlin's intelligence services. In fact, they suspect Russian interference and warn that such threats and intimidation are part of Vladimir Putin's regime's strategy of hostility against the European Union. The same sources explain that the Bulgarian authorities are aware of a substantial increase in this type of action by the Kremlin since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

When the GPS system went down, the pilot of von der Leyen's plane circled Plovdiv Airport for about an hour waiting for it to return the signal, but ultimately decided to land anyway, using traditional maps as a guide. However, the landing was safe and there were no incidents, according to sources from the European Commission.

Von der Leyen suffered this attack while on a trip to several member states geographically close to Russia, precisely with the aim of addressing this type of actions by Moscow. The European Commission President's tour has taken her to several countries that share borders with Russia and Belarus, and on Monday she continued her trip to the Black Sea, near the Romanian city of Constanta, to meet with key Romanian leaders and military officials from NATO and the EU. She also held meetings with senior officials in Finland, Estonia, and Lithuania.

Following the incident, the President of the European Commission posted a video on social media with the President of Lithuania, Gitanas Nauseda, in which they are seen calmly flying in a helicopter over Romania. Hours earlier, the head of the EU executive had warned of the danger Putin poses to the European Union and warned that "he hasn't changed and won't change" without "military deterrence" from the EU.