Russia jammed the Global Positioning System (GPS) signal of the Grant Shapps’ official jet on a round trip to Poland, writes Danielle Sheridan.
Mr Shapps, the Defence Secretary, was travelling on the RAF’s Envoy, a Dassault 900LX, to visit troops in Mazury, a military base near the Belarus border, when the aircraft’s pilots lost access to the GPS.
The jet was passing Kaliningrad, a Russian territory between Poland and Lithuania, when the attack happened on Wednesday morning.
On the return flight, Russia blocked the system again, this time for 30 minutes, as Mr Shapps, who was accompanied by journalists, flew back to London on Wednesday evening. The plane’s internal Wi-Fi was also temporarily down during both of the jamming attacks.
A defence source said the jamming was “directly related to Putin and the attack on Ukraine and the sensitivities around Kaliningrad”.