After NATO exercise

Russia jams British minister’s plane

The navigation system of a British air force aircraft with Defense Secretary Grant Shapps on board has been disrupted on a flight near Russian territory, according to government sources. A spokesman for the British government confirmed media reports on Thursday that the incident occurred on Wednesday evening during the defense minister's return flight from a NATO exercise in Poland.

The aircraft was "temporarily affected by GPS interference" when it was close to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. The incident did not threaten the safety of the aircraft, the spokesperson said. In addition, GPS interference near Kaliningrad is not unusual.

British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps at the NATO exercise(Bild: APA/AFP/Wojtek Radwanski)

Journalists from the Times newspaper were on board the plane and reported that the GPS signal remained disrupted for around half an hour. Cell phones could no longer connect to the internet, according to the report, and the plane had to use other methods to determine its position.

Shapps had been attending NATO's Steadfast Defender exercises, the largest military exercises of the defense alliance since the Cold War. The UK is one of Ukraine's strongest supporters in its two-year war against the Russian invasion.