Germany says Russia 'very likely' responsible for Baltic GPS disruptions

Russia is “very likely” behind a series of disturbances affecting GPS navigation in the Baltic region, the German Defence Ministry said on Thursday, pointing to the Kaliningrad exclave as a source of the problem.

“The persistent disruptions to the global navigation satellite system are very likely of Russian origin and are based on disruptions in the electromagnetic spectrum, including those originating in the Kaliningrad Oblast,” a spokesperson for the ministry told Reuters, confirming a report by news website t-online.

The spokesperson declined to give details on how Berlin made its assessment or the exact nature of the disruptions, citing “reasons of military security”.

Kaliningrad is sandwiched between Lithuania and Poland on the coast of the Baltic Sea. It was cut off from Moscow when Lithuania became independent during the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991.