World
Conflicting claims emerge on Russian GPS jamming targeting VDL's plane
ADVERTISEMENT
Reports that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s plane was targeted by suspected Russian GPS jamming as she travelled from Warsaw to the Bulgarian city of Plovdiv on 31 August have sparked major speculation.
Scrutiny has intensified after official sources flip-flopped between statements, appearing to row back on early claims that the disruption had been caused by suspected Russian interference.
The timeline
The Financial Times broke the story on 1 September, reporting that von der Leyen’s plane — a charter aircraft operated by Luxembourg airline LuxAviation — circled Plovdiv airport for an hour, using paper maps to land, after being targeted by “suspected Russian GPS interference.”
The same day, the European Commission stated it had received information from the Bulgarian authorities which suggested that the alleged jamming was “due to blatant interference from Russia.”
Later that day, prominent flight tracking site FlightRadar24 issued a statement in which it cast doubt over the notion there was any GPS jamming in the area around Plovdiv at the time of the plane’s landing.
The data provided by FlightRadar24 also revealed that the flight had taken nine minutes longer than scheduled, contracting the original claim made by the Financial Times that the aircraft had been circling Plovdiv airport for an hour.
Later, the Financial Times’ claims that “paper maps” had been used to conduct the landing were contested after Bulgarian authorities released a statement specifying that a ground-based radio navigation system known as ILS was used.
As the story unravelled, a recording in which the plane’s pilot reported “issues with the GPS” to Bulgarian air traffic controllers emerged, seemingly confirming some kind of interruption to the aircraft’s navigation systems.
But days later, on 4 September, in an interview with Bulgarian channel bTV, Deputy Prime Minister and Transport Minister Grozdan Karadjov denied that the government had submitted any information on the matter to the European Commission, contradicting the Commission’s assertion that Bulgarian authorities suspected the disruption was the result of the Kremlin’s hybrid warfare.
According to the Deputy Prime Minister, Bulgarian aviation authorities did hand the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) a report of the conversation between the pilot of the plane and the control tower, but while this exchange referred to “minor issues” with the GPS, it did not mention Russian interference.
“EASA still needs to remove the computers on board the aircraft and see what these computers registered,” Karadjov added.
Later that day, Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov, said there was “no evidence” of “prolonged interference or jamming” of the GPS signal around Plovdiv airport in an address to Parliament.
Zhelyazkov later appeared to back-peddle on his earlier claims, stating that although no jamming had been detected by “ground instruments”, this didn’t exclude the possibility of “onboard devices” having experienced jamming.
Zhelyazkov subsequently ordered aviation authorities to launch an investigation into what happened, despite Bulgarian authorities initially stating there wouldn’t be one.
Conflicting perspectives from analysts
Euronews consulted several analysts, some of which stand by the possibility of a “spoofing” or “jamming incident,” while others firmly asserted that there is no evidence of GPS jamming in the area around Plovdiv on the day in question.
Ian Petchenik, director of communications for Flightradar24, told Euronews that the “aircraft’s transponder reported good GPS signal quality from take-off to landing,” based on their analysis of Navigation Integrity Category (NIC) values, which is an indicator of the quality of navigational data received by the aircraft.
However, Petchenik added that interference “could have been internal to the aircraft, or from another source.”
But Mahmoud Elsanhoury from Finland’s Vaasa University told Euronews that spoofers have developed increasingly sophisticated techniques which allow them to make it appear like a good signal level is being transmitted to an aircraft, when in reality it is not.
“If the signal level is good and the pilot is going around in circles, this is a a very big indicator that it was a spoofing incident”, Elsanhoury explained.
Although there is a plethora of doubts surrounding this incident, Moscow has intensified GPS jamming targeting planes and ships since it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, primarily in the area surrounding the Baltic Sea.
“We are very well aware that unfortunately this incident is not specific to the president, meaning that it occurs on a very regular basis to many aircrafts flying in particular next to our eastern border,” a European Commission spokesperson said on Thursday, adding that “coordinated action from the European Union is needed” to tackle the threat.
World
Britain drags feet on IRGC terror designation as Iran-linked center allegedly sells extremist merchandise
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour government is facing intense criticism over its failure to swiftly outlaw Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The development comes as a London-based Islamic center has been accused of selling merchandise supporting terrorism.
Potkin Azarmehr, a British-Iranian expert on Iran who has written extensively on Iran’s influence operations in the United Kingdom, told Fox News Digital the “Islamic Centre of England is a regime outpost.
“The head of the center is directly appointed by Iran’s supreme leader. The letter of the appointment is publicly read during the inauguration ceremony. There is not a shred of doubt that the center is used to peddle the influence of Iran’s political Islam. It is also used to recruit disgruntled British individuals who are sent to Iran for training.”
The Daily Telegraph reported in late January that U.K. authorities were investigating the Islamic Centre of England for allegedly selling Hezbollah phone cases and pro-Iranian regime key rings. Britain has sanctioned the Iran-backed Lebanese terrorist movement, Hezbollah.
TRUMP’S IRAN THREATS FACE ‘OBAMA RED LINE’ TEST AS WHITE HOUSE PIVOTS TO DIPLOMACY
A Google Maps photo showing the Islamic Centre of England in London. (Google Maps)
The pro-Hezbollah and pro–Islamic Republic goods were reportedly sold at a bazaar Dec. 14, 2025, according to the paper. One key ring displayed the words, “With the kindness of God, Seyyed Ali [Khamenei] is our leader.” The Islamic Republic of Iran’s supreme leader, Khamenei, would order the murder of thousands of Iranian demonstrators just weeks later.
The bazaar also allegedly had stickers of late IRGC global terrorist Qassem Soleimani, who was responsible for the murders of over 600 military personnel, according to the Trump administration. President Trump ordered a drone strike in January 2020 that killed Soleimani in Iraq.
Emma Schubart, a research fellow at Britain’s Henry Jackson Society, told Fox News Digital, “The Islamic Centre of England is not an isolated religious institution; it is part of a wider ecosystem of Iranian state-linked influence operating openly in the U.K., and at the center of that ecosystem sits the IRGC.
“The U.K. Government is dragging its feet over designating the IRGC. By delaying action, ministers are allowing hostile Iranian networks to continue operating under the cover of civil society and religious life. This is a dangerous blind spot in Britain’s national security.”
The Islamic Centre of England is a registered charity. When asked about reports of the Islamic Center’s role in selling pro-terrorist merchandise, a spokesperson for the U.K.’s Charity Commission told Fox News Digital, “As part of our ongoing statutory inquiry into (the) Islamic Centre of England, we have raised concerns with the trustees about material sold by third parties at a recent event hosted at the charity’s premises. We take very seriously any alleged links between a charity and extremism or terrorism. Such links are abhorrent and corrosive to the trust on which the charitable sector depends.”
A British Union flag flies from a souvenir stall near the Houses of Parliament in London Oct. 27, 2025. (Jason Alden/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Azarmehr, however, countered, “The U.K. Charity Commission, the regulatory body, has been ‘investigating’ the center for five years with no decisions and no updates other than appointing an interim director, but the center carries on business as usual.
“The only tangible result is that every time you make a complaint to the charity about the center, they reply by saying that because they are investigating the center, they cannot comment.
IRAN REGIME OPENED FIRE WITH LIVE AMMUNITION ON PROTESTERS, DOCTOR SAYS: ‘SHOOT-TO-KILL’
“The first head of the center, Ayatollah Mohsen Araki, is now a member of Iran’s powerful Assembly of Experts and a key figure in propagating Iran’s soft power abroad. Araki’s family have U.K. citizenship. The previous U.K. government, in which Alicia Kearns was part of its administration, even paid the center in excess of £100,000 in COVID-19 furlough.”
In this photo released Jan. 6, 2020, by the official website of the Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, fourth from left, leads a prayer over the coffins of Gen. Qassem Soleimani and his comrades who were killed in Iraq in a U.S. drone strike at the Tehran University campus, in Tehran, Iran. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)
Kearns, who is the shadow minister for home affairs for the opposition Conservative party, is now demanding that the Islamic Center be shuttered.
“These latest revelations of terrorist tat being sold by the Islamic Centre of England are yet more evidence of why the center must be closed and those responsible for propagating terrorist propaganda face the law,” she told the Telegraph.
“The figures being idealized are responsible for the cold-blooded murder of tens of thousands of young Iranian protesters, adding to the many regional and international crimes of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM BOOTS IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER FROM DAVOS SUMMIT AMID DEADLY CRACKDOWN ON PROTESTERS
A spokesperson for the Islamic Centre of England told Fox News Digital, “The trustees take all concerns about the center very seriously. We are currently reviewing matters pertaining to the Dec. 14 event and, in light of this, are unable to comment further at this time.”
The EU announced last week that it has classified the IRGC a terrorist entity. The U.S., Canada and Australia have previously designated the IRGC a foreign terrorist organization. The IRGC played a key role in the massacre of Iranian demonstrators last month.
Iranians gather while blocking a street during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Jan. 9, 2026. (MAHSA/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
The proliferation of pro-Iran activism unfolded last weekend in London. Nigel Farage, leader of the Reform Party in the United Kingdom, posted on X, “When people in Britain are chanting support for the thuggish regime in Iran, we are in serious trouble as a nation.”
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Video footage embedded in Farage’s post and other clips on social media shows a mix of pro-Palestinian and pro-Iran regime messaging at the protests.
Multiple Fox News Digital inquiries to the British prime minister’s office went unanswered.
The head of Europe’s leading human rights organisation, the Council of Europe, told Euronews that European countries need to provide the budgetary resources and political will to ensure accountability for Russian war crimes committed in Ukraine.
On the latest Sporticast episode, hosts Scott Soshnick and Eben Novy-Williams chat from Super Bowl Radio Row in San Francisco.
They open by discussing a chaotic start to the week for the NFL. Commissioner Roger Goodell held his annual state of the league press conference Monday, and he answered a number of questions that no commissioner wants to address. Reporters asked about why no Black head coaches were hired in this recent cycle, how Goodell feels about halftime performer Bad Bunny’s political comments at the Grammy’s and how the league is reacting to New York Giants co-owner Steve Tisch’s frequent communications with Jeffrey Epstein.
Next they share clips from a few radio row interviews. In the first, former Seattle Seahawks running back Shaun Alexander discusses significant changes in how NFL teams treat his former position. Running backs were once among the highest paid players on an NFL team. Now, they’re valued quite differently. A former NFL MVP, he speaks about his own experience, his contracts and injuries, and why he thinks running backs are currently undervalued.
In another clip, USA Football CEO Scott Hallenbeck talks about the sport-wide push for flag football. At the Super Bowl alone, there was a flag Pro Bowl, a celebrity flag game and an exhibition for the flag football that will be coming to the Summer Olympics in 2028. He discusses NFL players participating in LA28 and the way flag football has opened the sport to wider demographics.
(You can subscribe to Sporticast through Apple, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts.)
A “Jane Doe” in the R. Kelly trials is ready to share her real name. And her story.
Republicans attack ‘woke’ Netflix — and ignore YouTube
Britain drags feet on IRGC terror designation as Iran-linked center allegedly sells extremist merchandise
White House says murder rate plummeted to lowest level since 1900 under Trump administration
Nearly 40% of cancers can be prevented with 3 lifestyle changes, study finds
Florida High School Football Rankings: Top 25 teams – Oct. 21
Cleary's 21 help Le Moyne down Central Connecticut State 69-64 in OT
How old is Bo Nix? What to know about Oregon quarterback ahead of 2024 NFL Draft
99th annual Pony Swim held in Virginia
Indiana Members Credit Union announced as new anchor tenant at Bottleworks District
White House says murder rate plummeted to lowest level since 1900 under Trump administration
Council of Europe chief calls for political and financial backing of Ukraine Special Tribunal
Republicans pan Democrats’ demands for ICE reform in DHS funding, with little time to reach deal
LIVE: White House press briefing
The Long Goodbye: A California Couple Self-Deports to Mexico
-
Indiana4 days ago13-year-old rider dies following incident at northwest Indiana BMX park
-
Massachusetts5 days agoTV star fisherman, crew all presumed dead after boat sinks off Massachusetts coast
-
Tennessee5 days agoUPDATE: Ohio woman charged in shooting death of West TN deputy
-
Movie Reviews1 week agoVikram Prabhu’s Sirai Telugu Dubbed OTT Movie Review and Rating
-
Indiana3 days ago13-year-old boy dies in BMX accident, officials, Steel Wheels BMX says
-
Politics1 week agoVirginia Democrats seek dozens of new tax hikes, including on dog walking and dry cleaning
-
Austin, TX6 days ago
TEA is on board with almost all of Austin ISD’s turnaround plans
-
Texas5 days agoLive results: Texas state Senate runoff
