Russia can manipulate GPS signals into the heart of Europe, Lithuania's communications authority warns
Russia can disrupt or jam GPS systems up to 450 kilometers from Kaliningrad as a result of a significant expansion of its capabilities in this area, a Lithuanian official said on Tuesday, according to Reuters.
Since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, European states have repeatedly accused Russia of electronic interference. The government of President Vladimir Putin, however, rejects these accusations and claims that they are part of a discredit campaign carried out by the West.
Darius Kuliešius, the deputy head of Lithuania's communications regulator, told Reuters that Russia had increased the number of antennas used for GPS “spoofing”, the technique of transmitting false signals to mislead positioning systems, from three in early 2025 to 36 today.
The antennas are located, according to him, in Kaliningrad, the heavily militarized territory of Russia located between two NATO member states, Lithuania and Poland, on the Baltic Sea.
“The occasional interference started with the NATO summit in Vilnius in 2023. Now they have developed their infrastructure, and the interference has become systemic, permanent, an uninterrupted Russian challenge to European security,” Kuliešius said.
The Russian Embassy in Vilnius did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment on the claims. But Moscow has repeatedly denied similar accusations in the past.
A map published by Lithuania's regulator indicates that GPS signals manipulated by Russia could affect the entire territory of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, most of Poland, as well as areas of Finland, Sweden and Belarus, as well as the Baltic Sea.
The range reached 450 kilometers, Kuliešius said. The Lithuanian regulator estimated this distance by analyzing disturbances in ADS-B transmissions, the system used for air traffic surveillance and monitoring.
The GPS system of the military plane in which Radu Miruță was was jammed in Lithuania
The interim Minister of Defense, Radu Miruţă, declared, on Monday evening, that the plane with which he recently traveled to Lithuania had a jammed GPS signal, but, being a military aircraft, it had anti-jamming systems, which were activated.
Last year, a Spanish military plane carrying Defense Minister Margarita Robles encountered GPS signal problems near Kaliningrad. Also, an attack suspected to have been launched by Russia blocked GPS navigation services at a Bulgarian airport and forced a plane carrying European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to land late. The pilot of the plane made the decision to land manually, using analog maps.
And Estonia, along with its neighbor Finland, have accused Russia of jamming GPS navigation devices in the region's airspace.
However, most modern commercial aircraft and major airports have several alternative navigation systems that can be used if the GPS experiences problems.
Kuliešius said that mobile phone networks in Lithuanian areas close to Kaliningrad also suffer from interference affecting certain frequencies. According to him, episodes of signal jamming intensify during Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia.
“Klaipėda's online bus schedule stops working during periods of strong interference as it relies on GPS vehicle location,” he added, referring to the city about 50 kilometers from the border with Kaliningrad.
