The plane carrying the Lithuanian president could not land in Vilnius — all because of a report of a drone

The Spartan plane carrying Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda was unable to land at Vilnius Airport on September 2 due to a potential threat. The services received a report that an unidentified drone may be in the airspace.

This was announced by the spokesman for the Lithuanian President, Tomas Berzinskas, reports the Lithuanian portal 15min.

The plane with Nauseda took off from Helsinki at 7:10 PM, began circling over Vilnius and landed at 9:17 PM.

"While approaching Vilnius Airport, information was received that a drone had been detected and that landing was still unsafe. The pilots took all safety measures and landed after some time," the spokesman said.

The delay was caused by a report from the airportʼs aviation security service about a drone over the Lepkalnis area. Flights were briefly suspended due to the threat, but resumed after receiving information that there was no threat.

• Earlier on September 1, a plane carrying European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen encountered GPS interference, forcing it to land in Bulgaria using paper maps. The incident is being viewed as interference by Russia.
• Cases of GPS jamming have increased significantly in recent years in the Baltic Sea and in Eastern European countries bordering Russia.

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