Russian GPS jamming allegedly targeted European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's jet as it tried to land at an airport in Bulgaria, officials said.

The suspected jamming of GPS at Plovdiv's city airport forced von der Leyen's jet to circle the airport for an hour, a Financial Times report said, citing unnamed officials, before the pilot had to rely on paper maps to land instead of electronic navigation.

"We can confirm there was GPS jamming but the plane landed safe," Arianna Podesta, deputy chief spokesperson for the European Commission, told Newsweek in a statement.

"We have received information from Bulgarian authorities that they suspect this blatant interference was carried out by Russia."

Newsweek has contacted the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to th

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