Russian President Vladimir Putin (C), Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu (R) and Navy Commander-in-Chief Nikolai Yevmenov (L) sail on a boat during the annual Navy Day Parade on July 30, 2023, in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Contributor / Getty Images
Russia’s GPS meddling in the Baltic Sea demands NATO action, Sweden’s naval chief says
Emanations from Kaliningrad are making regional shipping and air travel more dangerous.
Months of Russian GPS spoofing in the Baltic Sea isn’t just unsafe; the interference with aircraft and shipping is hurting the regional economy—and it’s time for NATO to take action, the head of Sweden’s Navy said Monday.
“For military purposes, we actually are not as affected because we are not that dependent on GPS. But of course that makes it an unsecure area. And when...uncertainty occurs in an area, the insurance rates increase,” Rear Adm. Ewa Skoog Haslum said at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space conference outside Washington, D.C.
One consequence is an increased number of ships turning off their automatic identification system, making it harder to tell their origin or what exactly they are doing in the Baltic Sea, a phenomenon that Skoog Haslum called “ghost shipping,” which is “becoming bigger and bigger.”
Estonian researchers have suggested Russia is behind the GPS interference via electromagnetic warfare capabilities at the Tobol complex at the Russian oblast of Kaliningrad.
Kaliningrad is a huge concern for NATO countries, as it sits just 40 miles to the west of Belarus, separated by a strip of the Poland-Lithuania border known as the Suwalki Gap (or corridor). If Russia were to invade the gap, it could conceivably isolate Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia from NATO reinforcements by ground.
NATO-allied countries need to address the situation by increasing their presence in the Baltic Sea, she said.
“I think that security is only made by presence right now,” she said. That could mean using NATO assets to accompany merchant vessels to help with navigation or other issues: “Being close to the merchant shipping so they can feel secure as well.”