A letter to the UN Secretary -General / Day on GPS Disruptions in the Baltic States

After more than a year and a half, the letter to Gutteris has been sent by Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) (ICAO).

As TTJA reported, it has addressed the Russian institutions with the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs repeatedly in connection with the GPS disruption of the Estonian airspace, which has been created from the Russian Leningrad region. As such communication did not result in the result, Ttja, together with colleagues from Latvia and Lithuania, turned to ITU, whose Member State is also in Russia. In order to point to the impact of GNSS disorders on civil aviation, the Estonian Climate Ministry has approached it in responsible international institutions.

Article 45 of the Articles of Article stipulates that none of the Member States must cause harmful disruption to neighboring countries and must act to prevent such impact. The ITU expressed strong support for the joint position of the Baltic States, condemned Russia’s GPS blocking and, together with IMO and ICOO, sent a joint letter to the UN Secretary -General.

Russian intervention in satellite navigation is distracting and affects civil aviation.

Since June 2023, TTJA has seen an increase in GPS disorders. Such disorders are detected in Estonian airspace at higher heights, from 5,000 feet to height and can affect the positioning of air vehicles. Also in 2024 reports appeared from the Gulf of Finland, where the ships had GPS disruption. The only way to prevent the interference is to exclude the source, so it is technically impossible to neutralize this effect across the border.

Disorders are ongoing today, but they are mostly observed at specific heights in Estonian airspace. On the ground’s daily navigation device, such as mobile phones or car navigation systems, is usually not affected. The effects may be felt when flying drones near the east border, but less in the central or western part of Estonia.

TTJA Radiofrequency Supervision in 2023 recorded 307 disorders reports. Of these official reports, 85%, or 261 cases, were related to GPS systems.