On September 1, 2025, the Financial Times of the United Kingdom reported that an aircraft used by European Commission President Urszula von der Leyen during her visit to the eastern countries of the European Union attempted to land at Plovdiv Airport in Bulgaria on August 31 and "suffered GPS interference with suspected Russian involvement "reported(*1). According to the article, the interference caused the aircraft to circle over the airport for an hour and then forced it to land using a paper map.

The news quickly spread around the world and was picked up by a succession of major news organizations in various countries. Many of them cited the Financial Times article as their primary source of information.

However, a close examination of the available evidence suggests that this event likely never occurred in the first place, or at least only in a manner very different from that described in the article. In several important respects, it has been confirmed to be patently untrue. In short, this case is a case of a major media outlet, whether intentionally or unintentionally, spreading misinformation and disinformation.supportThe "new" example of the "new" is the one that has been done to the "old".

This article examines this case and traces the process of how this "news" was reported and circulated.

The same plane that brought the European Commission President to Blovdiv (Photo:Anna Zvereva / Wikimedia Commons [CC BY-SA 2.0]

baseless claim

The basis for this report was very weak from the start. The Financial Times apparently based its story on the testimony of three anonymous Commission officials who had been "briefed" on the incident, as well as a statement by a Commission spokesperson. Although there is no way to confirm this, it is quite possible that all of these officials were in fact briefed by the same single inside source.

No evidence was presented, or even direct knowledge of the existence of the evidence itself, for that matter. A spokesperson for the European Commission said that at the regular lunchtime on September 1press conferenceclaimed that "there was GPS interference" and that "we received information from the Bulgarian authorities that they suspected that this was due to blatant interference by Russia."statedHowever, when asked if the Bulgarian authorities had provided evidence to support their suspicions, the spokesperson admitted that he had not received any. The spokesperson only conveyed the "suspicions" of the Bulgarian authorities and that "it is the responsibility of the Bulgarian authorities to investigate."declarationThe first time, the company was in a position to do so.

The Financial Times reported that Bulgaria's Air Traffic Service "confirmed the occurrence of this event in a statement to this newspaper."claimThe article states that the Bureau has "confirmed" that the number of GPS interceptions has been increasing since 2022. However, no direct citation for that "confirmation" is given in the article, which instead is limited to a general statement that the agency has acknowledged that the number of GPS interceptions has increased since 2022. At this point, no one had received direct confirmation from the Bulgarian authorities as to whether the events in question had actually occurred in the first place, and apparently no one had access to the evidence.

A crumbling story

The Bulgarian government first issued a statement on September 1. In response to the press report, the Bulgarian Council of MinistersPress Releaseand explained that the plane carrying the chairman lost its GPS signal during the approach to Plovdiv Airport, but the crew immediately switched to ground navigation aids. This explanation is based on the fact that the crew of the flight in question and the airport's air traffic controllertransmission recordThis is consistent with the No mention was made in the statement of malicious interference with GPS, use of paper maps, or flight delays. The next day, the Bulgarian government said it would not investigate the matter.announcementThe first time, the company was in a position to do so.

The actual flight path showing the landing of the aircraft on which Mr. von der Leyen was a passenger (Flightradar24(Published with permission of)

Neither the European Commission nor the Bulgarian government officials presented GPS data. Nor did the media outlets that initially reported the story provide any data as well. But on the day the Financial Times article appeared, FlightRadar24, a Sweden-based provider of flight tracking services (Flightradar24(the "GPS data") on the GPS data of the flight in question.analysisannounced the results of the flight. According to the report, "the aircraft's transponders reported good GPS signals from takeoff to landing," and the actual flight time was only nine minutes longer than planned. By another Swiss organization.analysisreached a similar conclusion.

On September 4, Bulgaria's deputy prime minister said there was no evidence that the plane's GPS had been jammed.declarationThe same day, the Prime Minister also stated that there was a temporary interruption of the signal, but no interference. On the same day, the Prime Minister also said that there was a temporary interruption of the signal, but no interferencestatementHowever, he also called for additional investigation. The Bulgarian president even called the case a "made-up scandal.categoricalThe following is a list of the most common problems with the

By September 5, the Commission spokesperson had not presented any new evidence and continued only to ask the press to refer to the Bulgarian government's statements. None of these statements, however, supported the claim that there had been "blatant interference." At a noon press conference that day, the spokesperson dismissed further questions from the press, saying, "We have really talked a lot about this over the past week."statedThe following is a list of the most common problems with the

As of this writing, the only confirmed fact is that the plane on which Chairman von der Leyen was flying to Plovdiv, Bulgaria, experienced a temporary interruption of the GPS signal upon landing. This interruption could have been caused by a variety of technical factors, and no evidence of interference has been detected. The pilot immediately switched to an alternative navigation system and the plane landed without problems.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Rossen Zhelyaskov (Photo:Parlamentul Republicii Moldova / Wikimedia Commons [CC0 1.0]

It is true that GPS jamming is a serious problem in the area near the Russian border, affecting many aircraft in a wide area of Europe. In this regard, the Bulgarian Prime Minister alsoAdmittedly.. Such interference is mainly attributed to the transmission of strong signals by Russia, with the intention of disrupting the guidance systems of missiles and drones launched by Ukraine.Considered.. However, there is no evidence that such interference actually occurred in this case.Not confirmed.The following is a list of the most common problems with the

Intended falsehood

The first Financial Times.articlewas written by Henry Foy, the paper's Brussels bureau chief. The claim in the article that the plane circled over the airport for an hour is false, and he himself is responsible for it. Foy himself was on board the flight and should have had first-hand knowledge that this was not the case.

Mr. Foy is the paper'spodcastHe also gave an exaggerated account of the incident within He stated. 'On approach to Plovdiv, we lost altitude. We were praying for a landing and soon we all realized that we were circling over the airport. We had been circling for some time now. We were long past our scheduled time." Indeed, the actual landing was long past the scheduled time. But the reason for that was that the takeoff wasOver an hour late.This was due to the fact that the aircraft had been circling over the airport for an hour, not because the aircraft was circling over the airport for an hour.

In the same podcast, Foy further claimed that the European Commission "corroborated what we reported and confirmed that they are treating this case as a matter of suspected Russian interference. However, this is hardly a "confirmation" in the sense of the press. Both the "incident" and the "suspicion of Russian involvement" he reported were based on information provided by European Commission officials. In other words, the source of the claims and the agency that supposedly "confirmed" them are the same, and they cannot be corroborated.

Moreover, the Commission has never publicly stated that the plane landed on a paper map, and this false information most likely originated either from Mr. Foy himself or from an anonymous source within the Commission on whom he relied. Since the source is anonymous, it is impossible to verify the source of the fabricated information.

European Union flag in front of the former headquarters of the Financial Times, United Kingdom (Photo:Metro Centric / Flickr [CC BY 2.0]

Public claims that GPS jamming occurred and that Russian involvement is suspected are the subject of the Commission's September 1press conferenceThe first announcement was made at the However, as noted above, the committee clearly stated that it had not seen any evidence of interference or Russian involvement, and only shared the "suspicions" conveyed to it by the Bulgarian authorities. However, the Bulgarian authorities had repeatedly denied, at least publicly, that any interference had occurred with regard to the flight or that they had any suspicions about Russia. This strongly suggests that the "incident" may have been cooked up by the European Commission in the first place.

If the incident had occurred as originally alleged, it would have been reasonable for the Commission to pursue the situation further and disclose the available evidence, both in terms of protecting the Commission President and in publicly revealing it as an aggressive act by Russia. However, the fact that they did not do so, but rather shut down additional questions from the press, suggests that the incident did not occur as originally described.

What was the motive?

Even briefly, it is necessary to consider the motives of the parties involved. Mr. Foy's owntermAccording to the "Mere Old Man," the Commission President's recent visit to the eastern countries of the European Union "was intended to draw attention to the threat posed by Russia and to make the case that European governments should be spending more on national defense. The dramatic incident in which the plane carrying the Commission President himself was subjected to GPS jamming could have served as a direct wake-up call for the Commission to back up that very claim.

According to Foy, a committee official said, "Frankly, this event proves the legitimacy of this visit. It shows the almost routine attempts by Russia to destabilize Eastern European countries," and that these countries need "investments in defense and security, as well as civilian infrastructure and cybersecurity."I told you.He said. A European Commission spokesperson also said at a press conference on September 1 that the event "reinforces our unwavering commitment and boosts our efforts to support Ukraine and strengthen Europe's defense capabilities," while at the same time "highlighting once again the urgency of this mission that the President of the Commission is undertaking."proposalThe Commission's comments are also a reflection of the Commission's attitude toward the "incident" and its timing. It is clear from these statements that the Commission took this "incident" and its timing as a matter of convenience.

Chairman von der Leyen during his visit to Finland (photo:FinnishGovernment / Flickr [CC BY 4.0]

There is also the slight possibility that Bulgarian authorities had in fact detected some GPS interference but did not publicly acknowledge it. Bulgarian officials appeared to be frustrated by the negative impact and damage to their reputation caused by the incident. Indeed, on September 4, the Bulgarian Prime Minister stated that "the distorted interpretation of the incident is an attempt to undermine confidence in Bulgarian institutions."blame(2). Therefore, the authorities may have had ample incentive to emphasize that "nothing happened." However, it does not seem logical to informally tell the European Commission that they suspect "blatant interference by Russia" but then deny it outright in public.

On the other hand, it is more difficult to determine Mr. Foy's own motives and the extent of his involvement. It should be noted that he was the only journalist on the flight. When asked about this point at a later press conference, a Commission spokesperson was unable to provide a clear explanation as to why he was the only one on the flight.Avoiding.Was this really a coincidence? Was this really a coincidence? Did Mr. Foy use the opportunity for a scoop to add an element of fiction to the Commission's claims and make the story more dramatic? Did the Commission take advantage of the fact that he was the only accompanying reporter to build a narrative and control the information? Or did Mr. Foy actively conspire with the Commission to exaggerate or even fabricate the events?

How the news spread

Following the Financial Times article, a series of news organizations around the world reported on the matter. Most of the reports were based on indirect claims made by a European Commission spokesperson, and many also relied heavily on the original article in the Financial Times.

Based solely on the Commission's assertion, CNN reported on September 1 that "news flashThe New York Times reported the plane as "targeted" and reported the plane as "targeted". The New York Times also reported the same day thatarticleposted on the website. It noted that it had asked Bulgarian authorities for comment, but had received no response. Nevertheless, the article was published as "so viewed" by the Bulgarian authorities without any actual direct statement from the officials. The article relied solely on statements made by a European Commission spokesperson, and its opening sentence consisted of hearsay, as follows. "Bulgarian authorities believe that Russia intercepted the navigation signal that was supposed to be used on the plane with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on board, a European official said."

Party hosted by the Financial Times, UK (Photo:Financial Times / Wikimedia Commons [CC BY 2.0]

Many other media outlets did not even attempt to confirm this with the Bulgarian authorities, but simply reproduced the "suspicions" of secondary information from the European Commission. United Kingdom.The Guardian.and France.Le Monde newspaperand others were also quoted directly from the Financial Times article.Reuters.The story spread on a global scale, with additional coverage by news agencies such as Almost every headline featured the alleged Russian involvement.

Japanese media showed a similar trend.Asahi (newspaper)and ... andYomiuri (newspaper)and other national newspapers based their reporting primarily on articles from the Financial Times.Nihon Keizai Shimbunran a rather lengthy article, referring to both the Financial Times article and the European Commission's September 1 press conference; NHK and other TV stations also covered the incident in a similar fashion.reportedThe following is a list of the most common problems with thenews flashand ... andjoint communicationsThe topic spread to local newspapers and online media through the distribution of

None of the above media outlets showed even minimal skepticism of the story, which was based solely on hearsay. This is despite the fact that the Commission itself admitted from the outset that it had seen no evidence of GPS interference or Russian involvement. A more cautious reporting stance would be called for, given the political benefits the Commission could derive from these kinds of claims. Of these reports, no media outlet seemed to have checked the GPS data themselves, and the data was already freely available online as of September 1.viewableDespite the fact that it was, it was never referenced.

No news organizations issued corrections or retractions, and there was little follow-up to the initial report after the denials by the Bulgarian authorities and discrepancies with the GPS data became apparent. Very few media outlets substantively questioned the official announcement. Notable among those few media outlets were,Euronews, ,interactive, ,politico, ,Brussels Signal, ,off guardianand other media.

Regularpress conferenceEuropean Commission spokesperson speaking at the (Sept. 1) (Screenshot: European Union, 2025, CC BY 4.0)

collusion of the media

The uncorroborated report of the alleged GPS jamming of the European Commission President's plane in Bulgaria is another example of the major media's complicity in the spread of misinformation and disinformation. Such media outlets are supposed to position themselves as "keepers of the truth" or "bulwarks against misinformation and disinformation," but in reality they are not fulfilling that role.case (e.g. receptacle, condition, event, legal action, letter style, etc.)are many. Often, misinformation is passed from government officials to the media, which then faithfully pass it on to the public without question.

This is especially true during armed conflicts. This is especially true when the "home" country of the news organization is directly involved in the conflict or is aligned with one side or the other. For example, since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, there have been numerous instances in which the mainstream media can confirm that they have repeated false accusations made against Russia by Western officials. A representative example is the fabricated claim that Russia was preparing to use chemical weapons in Ukraine in March 2022.claimand the widely reported Russian involvement in the destruction of the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline in September of the same year.suspicionThese include.

This does not mean that the Russian government should be absolved of responsibility for the actual malfeasance of its actions. There are many Russian actions that can be critically reported on legitimate grounds based on credible evidence without resorting to fabricated claims.

The coverage of Chairman von der Leyen's landing in Plovdiv did not develop into an ongoing follow-up story, and many media outlets only reported it once and for all. However, the implications of this incident are not small. Adding tension to an already volatile armed conflict situation, even the head of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has been stronglyreactionThis caused a situation that showed

Furthermore, this type of reporting encourages "demonization" of the opposing country. It reinforces the narrative (narrative) of Russia as the perpetrator of all kinds of malicious acts. The view that Russia interfered with the flight was virtually immediately accepted as "fact" and recycled to support claims of other malicious acts in which Russia was allegedly involved. For example, in the ten days following the incident in Bulgaria,Swedenand ... andFinlandBut similar claims were reported, and those reports began to cite events in Bulgaria.

Chairman von der Leyen visiting Bulgaria (Dati Bendo / European Union, 2025. EC - Audiovisual Service)

Acceptable Falsehoods

The facts of the case suggest that the Financial Times was involved in making up at least some of the content. So what about the numerous other media outlets that unquestioningly reported misinformation and disinformation related to this case? They must have known that the Commission's claims were uncorroborated and based only on hearsay. Did they trust the reputation of the Financial Times as an authoritative news organization and believe unconditionally what was written there? Did they not feel the need to verify it, even though it was relatively easy to do so? Did they consider it an unverifiable and "safe" claim as an indictment of a country considered by its own government to be an adversary? Or did they see themselves as part of a public relations strategy against that adversary and allowed the spread of even unreliable or false claims if they served that purpose?

Journalists dutifully spread false information created by powerful government officials to serve the interests of the state and its allies.trendhas persisted for some time. Even when it is later revealed that a report was false, the original article is rarely corrected, and the reporters involved are rarely held accountable. In some cases, ratherRewarded.It even looks like it.

Unfortunately, it is unlikely that any major media outlet that reported false or unproven claims on this matter will retract them or issue corrections.

1 GPS (Global Positioning System) is a satellite-based navigation system that provides position and time information anywhere on the globe; through GPS, devices can determine their exact location, speed, and direction of travel.

Writer: Virgil Hawkins

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