This week, Tsahkna said the GPS jamming is a deliberate Russian hybrid attack against Estonia. But not all politicians agree.
We know that Russia has been jamming the GPS signal since they started their aggression in Ukraine. Over the last year and a half, this issue has become very serious in our region. It is not only an Estonian issue, but also a Latvian, Lithuanian, Finnish, Norwegian, as well as southern Swedish and Polish issue. If we look at Russia’s actions, this attack on GPS is part of a hybrid action to disrupt our lives and to break all kinds of international agreements. GPS must not be interfered with by anyone, by the international convention to which Russia is a party. But this is a typical Russian action, he told Esimene stuudio.
The minister said there is plenty of evidence showing where this interference comes from.
It’s from near St Petersburg, near Pskov, Kaliningrad. And there have also been cases where it can be seen that, in connection with certain events, Russia has just stepped up and fine-tuned its meddling, Tsahkna said.
It is the Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority (TTJA) that detects these signals. But, of course, our respective agencies are dealing with all this, and not only in Estonia, but this information is shared within NATO, this information is shared between allies, he said.
However, the TTJA believes the jamming is likely to be Russia defending its critical infrastructure from attack and trying to deter drones, rather than a deliberate attack against Estonia. The jamming of GPS in Estonian airspace is suspected to be a side effect, the agency said.
Tsahkna said it is not a side effect if it endangers people’s lives.
If the spillover is endangering the lives of our people, if it is actually interfering with our activities and international activities, for example, in aviation, but also in other areas – and we have seen these cases where, for example, during military exercises, the Russians are supposedly testing their capabilities – it is not a spillover, he emphasized.
Certainly, part of it is to protect their territory from possible drone attacks, but there are no drone attacks coming from our direction. So why is there a need to jam these GPS signals in Norway, Sweden or Finland, for example? There is no logical basis for this. And on the other hand, it is clear that Russia is testing the limits of what it can do in our direction, in the direction of the so-called West, Tsahkna added.
The minister said it is necessary to talk openly about what is happening and make allies aware of the situation. Earlier this week, he spoke with this Nordic and Baltic counterparts.
We need to be aware, if only for the sake of the future, because Russia will continue to be a threat, that Europe needs to be prepared not only for classic military conflict, but precisely for hybrid action that will cripple our societies. We need to talk about this, he told the show on Tuesday.
Tsahkna said discussions should be had in the EU and NATO about responding to the situation, such as statements of condemnation or sanctions. Secondly, real action needs to take place to make sure air traffic and people are safe.
In January, the TTJA said GPS jamming had been noticed at the end of last year, and even as far back as June, and is likely coming from Russia. Experts have also told the Finnish media that Russia is behind it.
This week, Finnish airline Finnair canceled a newly reopened route from Helsinki to Tartu as GPS interference stopped planes from landing at the airport. It is not known when the service will reopen.
On Wednesday, the Transport Administration said Estonian airspace is safe and Tallinn Airport is unaffected by the jamming.
