Russia has been accused of attempted
sabotage after the navigation system
failed on a plane which was carrying the
president of the European Commission.
Ursula Vanderelion was on her way to
Bulgaria yesterday when the GPS stopped
working, forcing the pilot to use paper
maps to land. Moscow hasn't commented.
As Frank Gardner reports,
>> a safe landing in Bulgaria, but not
without incident. The president of the
European Commission, Ursla Vander Lion,
was flying from Warsaw to Plavde when
the pilot reported the satellite
navigation signal was jammed as they
came in to land. The pilot was forced to
circle around before landing.
>> We have received uh information from the
Bulgarian authorities that they suspect
uh that this was due to blatant
interference by uh Russia. interference
which forced the pilot to land using
paper maps instead of instruments. The
Kremlin has reportedly denied
involvement.
What Moscow does or doesn't deny makes
no difference. After all, they denied
there were Russian soldiers in Crimea.
So, whatever the Russian Federation says
makes no difference. We're used to the
fact that we cannot receive credible
information from them. An RAF plane
carrying the then British defense
secretary Grant Shaps suffered a similar
apparent attack over the Baltic last
year. That was alleged to have come from
the nearby Russian exclave of Keningrad.
Part of a pattern say Western
governments of so-called hybrid warfare
by Russia, a charge it repeatedly
denies. Frank Gartner, BBC News.