Foreign ministers of the Baltic states: GPS interference at Tartu airport is a Russian hybrid attack

At the end of last week, Finnish national airline “Finnair” planes, which were on their way from Helsinki, could not land at Tartu airport twice due to malfunctions of the GPS equipment.

The foreign ministers of the Baltic states have warned that Russia is causing GPS signal interference, which is very dangerous and sooner or later can lead to an air disaster, writes “Tartu Postimees”.

It reports that the Foreign Ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania told the “Financial Times” newspaper that GPS signal disturbances have been observed in the Baltic countries in recent weeks.

Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Cahkna has announced that what is happening in the vicinity of the Tartu airport is a Russian hybrid attack.

“GPS jamming is part of Russia’s hostile actions and we will certainly discuss this issue with our allies as well. This is a threat to our people and security, and we will not tolerate it,” Cahkna said.

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said that the situation in the Baltic Sea region has become too dangerous to ignore.

“If someone turns off your headlights while driving at night, it will be dangerous,” said Landsbergis.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia, Baiba Braže, stated that such incidents are taken seriously and the responsible institutions of Latvia cooperate with colleagues from other countries.

Roman Kulikov, the operational manager of Tartu airport, said that last night the “Finnair” plane, which departed from Helsinki, landed at Tartu airport at 1:04 am. The flight was safe and without any problems.

According to the “Financial Times”, on Thursday and Friday, two Finnair planes returned to Finland due to GPS signal interference, as it was impossible for them to reach Tartu airport safely.

Experts have pointed out that GPS signal interference has affected tens of thousands of civil aircraft flights in the Baltic States region in recent months. Blocking the signal also affects navigation in the Baltic Sea and car navigation systems. The Swedish Navy has issued a warning about shipping safety risks.

According to experts, GPS signal interference can be caused by relatively cheap equipment.

Although no one has claimed responsibility for causing the signal interference, officials in the region have no doubt that Russia is causing it, both from its core territory and from the Königsberg (Karalyachi) enclave.

Britain confirmed in March that a government plane carrying Defense Minister Grant Shapps had experienced GPS signal interference near Koenigsberg on its way home from Poland.