NATO Says It’s Working to Counter Russian GPS Jamming After Interference With European Commission Leader’s Plane

TIME

NATO is working “day and night” to counter Russian GPS jamming, the organization's Secretary-General Mark Rutte confirmed on Tuesday, two days after a plane carrying European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen encountered interference.  “It is taken very seriously,” said Rutte during a press conference in Luxembourg. “I can assure you that we are working day and night to counter this, to prevent it, and to make sure that they will not do it again.”

Transcript

00:00It is taking very seriously, and thank you for the question.

00:03And this is exactly why NATO is stepping up when it comes to hybrid, cyber, etc.

00:10And we have agreed on policies there to really be more effective in this area.

00:17I always hated the word hybrid because it sounds so cuddly,

00:20but hybrid is exactly this, jamming commercial airplanes with potentially disastrous effects,

00:27an assassination attempt on a big industrialist in one of NATO allied countries,

00:34attacking the national health service in the United Kingdom.

00:38So these are not cuddly, small incidents.

00:41These are huge incidents which have a huge impact.

00:45And that is also why when we found out about the cutting of the UNLCC cable between Estonia and Finland

00:55on the 25th of December last year that the Supreme Allied Commander launched his enhanced vigilance activity

01:03in the Baltic Sea, Baltic century, within 10 days.

01:06So I'm not saying that we have completely cracked this and solved this altogether.

01:11But to your question, I can assure you that we are working day and night to counter this,

01:17to prevent it, and to make sure that they will not do it again.

01:21The threat from the Russians is increasing every day.

01:25Let's not be naive about it.

01:27This might also involve one day Luxembourg, my country, the Netherlands.

01:32We are all safe now.

01:33We think we are far away from Russia.

01:35But we are very close by.

01:36And the latest Russian missile technology, for example, the difference now between Lithuania

01:44on the front line and Luxembourg, The Hague or Madrid is 5 to 10 minutes.

01:50That's the time it takes this missile to reach these parts of Europe.

01:53So we are all under direct threat from the Russians.

01:57We are all on the eastern flank now, whether you live in London or in Tallinn.

02:01There is no difference anymore.

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