British Defense Secretary’s plane encounters ‘GPS interference’ near Russia

The Russian government said on Thursday that a plane carrying British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps experienced interference with satellite signals as it flew close to Russian territory.

The government said the Royal Air Force jet carrying Shapps, officials and journalists “temporarily experienced GPS interference while approaching Kaliningrad” on a flight from Poland to the UK.

The Times of London, whose reporter was on board, said that for about 30 minutes, phones were unable to connect to the Internet and the plane was forced to use other methods to determine its location.

Shapps visited Poland on Wednesday to watch British troops taking part in the major NATO exercise Resolute Defender.

Kaliningrad is a Russian exclave bordering Poland and Lithuania and is home to the Russian Navy’s Baltic Fleet.

Dave Pares, a spokesman for Chancellor Rishi Sunak, said “at no time did the interference threaten the safety of the aircraft”.

He said it was not unusual for planes to encounter electronic interference near Kaliningrad.

Western officials say Russia has significant electronic warfare capabilities in Kaliningrad.

Since Moscow invaded Ukraine in 2022, Russia has been conducting GPS jamming in areas from Finland to the Black Sea.

As a result, a regional Finnish airline had to cancel flights on one route for a week.