The foreign ministers of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia have accused Russia of jamming GPS signals in the Baltic Sea. This has been happening more and more in recent weeks and could lead to an air disaster.
The Financial Times writes about it.
Due to jamming of the GPS signal, two flights of the Finnish airline Finnair flying from Helsinki to the Estonian city of Tartu were forced to turn around and return to Finland. They could not reach their destination safely.
“If someone turns off your headlights while youʼre driving at night, itʼs going to be dangerous. The situation in the Baltic region near the Russian borders is now becoming too dangerous to ignore," Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielus Landsbergis told the FT.
The head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Estonia Margus Tsahkna added that the Baltic countries consider the jamming of GPS signals to be a "hybrid Russian attack" that poses a danger to their citizens. He added that the countries will discuss it with their allies.
According to experts, tens of thousands of civilian flights have been affected by GPS jamming in recent months. It also interferes with signals used by ships in the Baltic Sea. The FT writes that the GPS signal is easy to jam with relatively cheap equipment.
No country has admitted to being behind the jamming of the GPS signal in the Baltic Sea. However, the FT reports that officials in the region said there was "no doubt" that Russia was behind the jamming. A high-ranking official told the newspaper that this is how Russia is trying to protect Kaliningrad from potential attacks by Ukrainian drones.