A plane carrying European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen experienced GPS jamming while approaching Plovdiv International Airport in Bulgaria on Sunday.

The Bulgarian Air Traffic Services Authority said the GPS signal was “neutralized,” prompting air controllers to guide the flight using terrestrial tools. The plane landed safely despite circling the airport for nearly an hour.

Bulgarian authorities suspect Russia was behind the incident. “We have received information from the Bulgarian authorities that they suspect that this was due to blatant interference by Russia,” European Commission Deputy Chief Spokesperson Arianna Podestà said.

The Kremlin denied the allegation, with spokesperson Dmitry Peskov telling the Financial Times: “Your information is incorrect.”

The disruption came as von der Leyen toured eastern EU states to discuss defense and support for Ukraine. Speaking in Bulgaria’s capital shortly after the incident, she urged Europe to “keep up the sense of urgency.”

“[Russian President Vladimir] Putin has not changed, and he will not change. He is a predator. He can only be kept in check through strong deterrence,” she said.

GPS jamming and spoofing have surged along Russia’s borders since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. An internal EU report said Poland recorded 2,732 interference cases in January 2025, up from 1,908 in October 2023. Lithuania saw a similar increase, logging 1,185 cases in January compared with 556 in March 2024.

Other officials have also been targeted. In March 2024, a UK military plane carrying then-Defence Secretary Grant Shapps was hit by GPS spoofing near Kaliningrad.