Poland says GPS disruptions over Baltic could be related to Russia

WARSAW (Reuters) -Poland has been observing GPS disruptions over the Baltic Sea, Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said on Tuesday, adding its sources suggest they were "related to the actions of the Russian Federation, including sabotage actions".

The Russian embassy in Warsaw did not immediately reply to an emailed request for comment. Russia has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

Polish media have reported cases of GPS malfunction in the north of the country, including private drones flying away in unknown directions or losing connection.

"This may be Russia's answer to the Baltops exercises," Polish Vice Admiral Krzysztof Jaworski told Reuters on Tuesday, referring to NATO's annual exercise in the Baltic Sea, which is being held this month. Jaworski said the disruptions had become more intense since the start of the NATO exercise.

On Monday, a flight from Alicante in Spain to the northern Polish city of Bydgoszcz was redirected to Poznan in the west of Poland due to navigation problems, a Bydgoszcz airport spokesperson said, without identifying the airline.

"We are observing these disruptions. They are also observed over the Baltic Sea area by our allies in NATO countries - both in the Baltic states and the Nordic countries," Kosiniak-Kamysz told journalists, when asked about such incidents at a press conference about new helicopters.

"These actions are related, according to our sources, to the actions of the Russian Federation, also to sabotage actions."

He did not elaborate on the sources.

Countries located on the Baltic Sea have reported numerous incidents since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, including power cable, telecom link and gas pipeline outages, and the NATO military alliance has boosted its presence in the region.

Estonia and Finland last year also blamed Russia for jamming GPS navigation devices in the region's airspace.

(Reporting by Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk and Barbara Erling; Editing by Alison Williams and Susan Fenton)