Foreign Minister Lavrov Denies Reports Of Alleged Russian Attacks On EU President Von Der Leyen's Plane

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. (Wikimedia Commons/Presidential Executive Office of Russia)

JAKARTA - Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called Russia's allegations of a " GPS attack" on the plane carrying European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen during his visit to Bulgaria nonsense.

"Recently, we were accused of almost killing Ursula von der Leyen, who was flying to various countries by plane or helicopter, pitting them against our country. And suddenly they said that Russia had ' TURNed off' GPS and the plane or helicopter could have crashed. After that, by the way, representatives of the European Union (EU) themselves denied this nonsense," he said at a press conference, launching TASS September 9.

Foreign Minister Lavrov cited several other examples of how the West spread disinformation about Russia, noting that in the case of the European Commission's Presidential plane "the method remains the same."

Earlier, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Maria Zakharova said allegations of landing a von der Leyen plane with the help of a papermap due to the Kremlin's alleged "hybrid attack" "showing despair."

As previously reported, the GPS system of the Presidential Commission of Europe's Ursula von der Leyen had a disruption while traveling to Bulgaria on Sunday.

The plane landed safely, a EU spokesman said on Monday, September 1.

"We were able to confirm any GPS interference, but the plane landed safely in Bulgaria. We have received information from Bulgarian authorities they suspect this is due to Russian open interference," the spokesman said.

The European Union did not provide further details. But the spokesman said the incident would strengthen the bloc's commitment to increasing defense capabilities and support for Ukraine in the face of a three-and-a-half-year Russian invasion.

In a statement, the Bulgarian government said GPS signals were lost as the von der Leyen plane approached the southern city of Plovdiv, prompting air traffic controllers to switch to ground navigation systems to ensure safe landings.

The incident with the von der Leyen plane occurred while he was on a four-day tour of EU member states bordering or located close to Russia.