Finnish Prime Minister: Russia might be responsible for GPS failures during NATO exercises
During an interview with Yle news agency, the Prime Minister of Finland Juha Sipilä stated that he believes that the failures of the GPS navigation system that occurred during the NATO Trident Juncture military exercises can be attributed to Russia.
“In technical terms, it is relatively easy to disrupt radio signals, and it is possible that Russia is behind this,” said Sipilä, adding that Russia has the means to do it. “This is a message to all countries participating in the military exercises,” he explained.
The GPS malfunction in the arctic regions of Finland was recorded by Finnish military last week. “We received information from various sources that the GPS signal may be unreliable in northern and northeastern Finland,” said Finland’s Air Navigation Service operational director Heikki Isomaa.
Norwegian military previously recorded similar failures. They also linked them to increased Russian activity in the region near where the NATO Trident Juncture exercises were being held.