Several NATO members accuse Moscow of deliberately jamming positioning signals in the Baltic.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, GPS interference has been recurring in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.These types of disruptions are common in and around conflict zones. Even so, in the last half year, the airspace of the three Baltic countries — in addition to that of Finland, Sweden and Poland — has been much more affected than at the beginning of the war. What’s more, thousands of ships have been navigating the Baltic without GPS since December, when the Russian army’s electronic warfare began in the Kaliningrad enclave. And in remote northeastern Norway, near Russia’s Northern Fleet base — which has eight of the 11 Russian submarines capable of launching long-range nuclear missiles — outages are almost daily.
Losing the GPS signal mid-flight does not, in principle, pose a serious risk. Commercial airliners have several older alternative systems.
Earlier this week Traficom, the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency, said that the jamming GPS signals over the Baltic Sea is “most likely” a side effect of Russia’s anti-drone activities. “The interference intensified when Ukraine’s drone attacks on Russia’s energy infrastructure began in January 2024,” Traficom said in its press release.
Finnair earlier this week suspended flights to Tartu, Estonia, for a month; the Estonian government announced its intention to discuss the issue with its EU and NATO partners.
“[The] North Atlantic Council addressed the recent malign activities on Allied territory yesterday [May 2] and stated that Russia’s hybrid operations such as cyber and electronic interference but also sabotage, acts of violence and disinformation campaigns have affected several NATO member states,” said an Estonian foreign ministry spokesperson, referring to a NATO statement issued Thursday.
