Russia suspected of jamming UK defence secretary's plane from Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia

Russia is suspected of jamming the satellite signal of the aircraft carrying UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps on his way back from Poland.

Source: Reuters, citing a source in the UK government and journalists travelling with Shapps, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Reuters' sources said the aircraft's GPS signal had been blocked for about 30 minutes as it flew near Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast.

They added that mobile phones could not access the Internet at the time, so the plane was forced to use alternative methods to determine its location.

The UK Ministry of Defence refused to comment on the situation.

A source told The Times that the Royal Air Force has an algorithm for dealing with such failures, but "it still puts an unnecessary risk on civilian aircraft and could potentially endanger people’s lives".

"There is no excuse for this and it’s widely irresponsible on Russia’s part," the source added.

The Times also reported that Russia has been regularly jamming signals of British planes taking off from Akrotiri airbase in Cyprus in the past. However, this has rarely been the case with planes carrying UK officials.

Failures in GPS used by airlines, smartphones and weapons systems have been previously observed near Kaliningrad. This year, Estonian Defence Forces Commander Martin Herem stated Russia was behind them.

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