STOCKHOLM, September 1. /TASS/. The Flightradar aircraft tracking service has refuted media reports about GPS interference affecting the plane carrying European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
"The aircraft’s transponder reported good GPS signal quality from take-off to landing," it said on its X page.
The service also refuted reports that the plane had been in a holding pattern for one hour before landing in Plovdiv. "The flight was scheduled to take 1 hour and 48 minutes. It took 1 hour and 57 minutes," it wrote.
The Financial Times reported earlier that the GPS system of her plane failed when it was flying to Bulgaria. The pilots allegedly had to use paper maps to land in Plovdiv.
In a commentary to The Financial Times, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov denied Russia’s involvement in the incident. "Your information is incorrect," he said.
According to European Commission Spokeswoman Arianna Podesta, Bulgarian authorities described the incident as gross interference by Russia. When asked whether Bulgaria had presented any evidence, Podesta replied in the negative.