By Emma Pinedo and Andrius Sytas
MADRID/VILNIUS (Reuters) -A Spanish military jet with Defence Minister Margarita Robles onboard experienced a GPS disturbance early on Wednesday as it flew near Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave on its way to Lithuania, the ministry said, without providing further details.
As well as Robles, the plane was carrying relatives of Spanish airmen who form part of the NATO air policing mission in the Baltic region, on the border with Russia and its ally Belarus.
The Spanish contingent, known as the Vilkas mission, from the Lithuanian word for wolf, consists of eight Eurofighter aircraft in the Siauliai airfield in place since July 31, the Lithuanian Defence Ministry said.
Last week it took off eight times to inspect Russian aircraft flying over the Baltic Sea, Spain’s Defence Ministry said on Wednesday.
Spain said it will reinforce its presence in the region in response to Poland shooting down drones that violated its airspace earlier this month, but it did not provide details.
PLANE WAS NOT SPECIFICALLY TARGETED?
A defence source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they did not believe the plane had been targeted and that disruptions were common on the route.
The aircraft had an encrypted system, which meant the attempt to disrupt the signal did not affect the flight, the source added.
Robles held a bilateral meeting with her Lithuanian counterpart Dovile Sakaliene after landing at Siauliai airbase.
“We believe it is essential to defend the right of all of us to travel and fly freely throughout European territory without experiencing what we experienced this very morning,” she told reporters.
“There is a real threat. We have suffered this interference,” she said in a news conference with her Lithuanian counterpart.
A NEIGHBOUR THAT DOES NOT FOLLOW RULES
Sakaliene said the incident was another illustration that Russia was “a neighbour that did not uphold international rules or care what damage it may cause”.
The incident follows another in which the GPS system of a plane carrying European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was jammed while en route to Bulgaria on August 31.
A European Union spokesperson said Bulgarian authorities suspected the incident was due to interference by Russia.
Estonia and neighbouring Finland have also blamed Russia for jamming GPS navigation devices in the region’s airspace. Russia has denied interfering with communication and satellite networks.
Finland’s military has said Russia uses GPS jamming in the region to protect Russia’s Baltic Sea oil ports, military sites and other strategic assets from Ukrainian drone attacks.
Most modern airliners have sensors and sources to determine their positioning, in addition to GPS, meaning they can fly if there is interference.
A commander onboard the Spanish plane told reporters travelling with Robles that such incidents are common when flying near Kaliningrad for civilian and military aircraft, and that the Spanish plane could also navigate using military satellites.
(Reporting by Inti Landauro and Emma Pinedo in Madrid and Andrius Sytas in Vilnius, writing by Charlie Devereux, editing by Aislinn Laing and Barbara Lewis)
