Moscow dismisses ‘preposterous’ von der Leyen jet claims

Reports that the EC president’s jet was forced to circle for an hour before landing in Bulgaria have not been verified.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has dismissed “preposterous” claims that Russia was linked to an alleged attempt to jam the GPS signal of a private jet carrying European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

According to Brussels, the alleged incident is claimed to have taken place during a trip von der Leyen took to Bulgaria. Her flight was reportedly “forced to circle for an hour” though no data has been released to corroborate the claims.

At a press briefing on Thursday, Zakharova said that Moscow will continue to combat “the West’s web of lies” aimed at discrediting Russia on the world stage.

Zakharova pointed to data from the flight-tracking website Flightradar24, which indicated that von der Leyen’s jet “reported good GPS signal quality from take-off to landing.”

Bulgarian Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov said on Tuesday that the incident would not be investigated, stating that “these disturbances are neither hybrid nor cyber threats,” according to Politico.

The claims were meant to distract the public from “actual events,” Zakharove said, including problems with the EU’s economy and the recent summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Tianjin, China, which concluded on Monday.

“It is not just paranoia, but a cynical plot to distract their own population from the EU’s worsening economic situation and from considering the real culprits behind the European crisis – the irresponsible, kleptocratic political elites of the European Union,” she said.

Since 2024, the Nordic and Baltic countries have accused Russia of disrupting communications on planes and ships as a form of “hybrid warfare,” allegations Russia has denied.