Sweden Accuses Russia of Jamming Navigation Systems in Baltic Sea Area

Sweden has accused Russia of being responsible for a spike in reports of Global Navigation Satellite System signal jamming incidents recorded over the Baltic Sea. An example of technology covered by the system is the Global Positioning System (GPS).

So far this year, 733 incidents have been recorded up to Aug. 28, up from 55 across the whole of 2023, a rise of some 1,232.73 percent. The agency, however, says that this figure is likely to be far higher, as foreign airlines often only file reports to their own country’s aviation authority.

The STA said that the source of the interference has been traced to Russian territory.

“Recently, the disruptions have increased both geographically and in scope. The disruptions now occur within a larger area, both over water and land in Sweden,” said Andreas Holmgren, head of unit at the STA.

“This is serious and it is a safety risk for civil aviation, not least given the extent, duration and nature of the disruptions.”

He added that it was important to note that pilots had other navigation facilities at their disposal should their satellite systems fail.

According to GPSJAM, the Baltic region is experiencing high levels of GPS interference.

In June, Sweden, along with Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland, reported the issue to the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), of which Russia is also a member.

Following the report from the Baltic nations, the ICAO Council “expressed serious concern about the harmful effects of radio frequency interference (RFI) on GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) on the safety and security of international civil aviation,” according to a statement released by the Estonian Transport Administration in July.

“Therefore, the ICAO Council urged the Russian Federation to strictly comply with its obligations under the Convention on International Civil Aviation (Chicago Convention) and the principles set out in its Annexes and international aviation rules, calling on the Russian Federation to ensure that similar incidents are not repeated in the future,” the statement added.

“However, despite pressure from the Council, disturbances have instead increased in the Baltic Sea area.”

The Chicago Convention is an international treaty that established the core principles and rules governing international air transport and navigation, which was first signed in the Illinois city in 1944 and came into force in 1947. By 2024, 193 states had signed on to the convention.

The announcement by the STA comes just days after there was a disruption to a chartered aircraft carrying European Commission (EC) President Ursula von der Leyen from Warsaw in Poland to Plovdiv in Bulgaria.

“We can indeed confirm that there was GPS jamming, but the plane landed safely in Bulgaria,” EC spokesperson Arianna Podesta said on Sept. 1.

“We have received information from the Bulgarian authorities that they suspect that this was due to blatant interference by Russia.”

However, according to news outlet Off News, the allegations of Russian involvement were subsequently denied by Bulgarian Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov in the nation’s parliament on Thursday.

“After checking the plane’s recordings, we saw that there were no indications of concern on the part of the pilot,” Zhelyazkov said, according to the outlet.

“The aircraft circled the holding area for five minutes, and the signal quality was good the entire time. However, partial interruptions in the signal are normal in densely populated areas, and in this case, the connection was continuous.”

According to the data presented to parliament by Zhelyazkov, no interference in the GPS signal was detected on the Bulgarian side, and there is no evidence of external impact on other aircraft that were flying over the area at the same time, the report stated.