GPS jamming in Finland likely part of Russian hybrid campaign, ISW says.

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Recent cases of GPS blocking in and near Finland are "likely part of Russia's intensifying hybrid campaign directly targeting NATO," the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said on July 11. Russia has been accused of jamming GPS signals in Finland and the region as far back as the 2010s, but incidents have sky-rocketed in recent months, particularly over the Baltic Sea. A Finnish maritime pilot complained recently about a "massive GPS jamming and radar interference" between July 10 and 11 in the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland, saying that the GPS was unavailable for 90% of the trip between the Orrengrund pilot station and the Hamina harbor.

Finnish authorities commented on the incident, saying that this week saw an unusually high level of GPS malfunctions, the Iltalehti newspaper reported. While no interference with radar frequencies was recorded in the Gulf of Finland, GPS malfunctions can affect radar devices, said the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency (Traficom). According to the agency, most disturbances affecting aerial and maritime transport originate from Russia.

"Russia's apparent GPS jamming is likely part of Russia's intensifying hybrid campaign directly targeting NATO states likely aimed at undermining support for Ukraine and NATO unity," the ISW said. In a pivot from its long-standing military neutrality, Helsinki joined NATO in 2023 in response to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Finland, which shares a 1,340-kilometer-long border with Russia, not including the Gulf of Finland, has since then complained of various hybrid attacks from Russia's side.

Helsinki accused Russia of deliberately bringing in high numbers of third-party migrants in an attempt to overload the Finnish border. Other countries have also complained about Russian GPS jamming in the Baltic region and Poland. Earlier this year, massive interference in the second-largest Estonian city of Tartu forced the suspension of flights in the local airport.

Tallinn named Russia as the culprit.

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