GPS jamming by Russia is not directed against Lithuania, says presidential adviser

GPS signal interference incidents affecting passenger plane flights in recent months have to do with Russia’s actions aimed at defending itself against Ukraine’s retaliatory strikes, an adviser to Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda says, adding that they are not directed against Lithuania.

“Russia is involved in an armed conflict with Ukraine and is using those electronic warfare measures that are necessary for Russia to ensure its security,” Marius Česnulevičius, the president’s national security adviser, said after a meeting of the State Defence Council on Wednesday.

“We have no indications that Russia is specifically targeting us, our civil aviation, but their self-defence measures have a direct impact on air security, and there will be more of those jamming incidents,” he said.

Side effect

Russia is taking electronic warfare measures to protect its facilities from drones and missiles.

“We need to understand a simple thing: the Ukrainians are not only taking hits, they are hitting back, both with missiles and drones,” the presidential adviser said. “In simple terms, a drone or a missile would either get lost or be given the wrong coordinates on the same target. [...] As a side-effect, these are the jamming cases that our civil aviation suffers,” he added.

Aviation safety in the country is assured, Česnulevičius said, but Lithuania is looking for additional measures to normalise the situation.

“We are currently looking at whether we can have any technical response to this to make pilots’ work easier and to ensure better flight safety. [...] There is no threat to an individual aircraft, but when everyone is experiencing disruptions, it’s easy to see that Lithuania may not be as attractive as a flight destination,” Česnulevičius pointed out.

“Planes also land in Kaliningrad and experience the same, if not more, disruptions,” he said, adding that other Baltic states and Poland are also facing similar problems.

According to Oro Navigacija (Air Navigation), Lithuania’s air navigation services provider, up to 400 GPS interference cases were recorded in January, a tenfold increase from January 2024.

Oro Navigacija says the reasons behind these incidents are being investigated and it cannot be ruled out that they could be caused by the actions of unfriendly countries.