site.btaOpposition Leader Wants Counterintelligence Chief Ousted over Alleged Russian Jamming of von der Leyen's Jet Signal

Denyo Denev must be immediately removed as acting Chairperson of the State Agency for National Security, and the Security Council with the Council of Ministers must be urgently convened, Democratic Bulgaria Co-chair and Democrats for Strong Bulgaria leader Atanas Atanasov urged in a Facebook post.

Atanasov's insistence was prompted by what he described as "a hybrid Russian attack" against a plane transporting European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to Plovdiv Airport on Sunday which, as he put it, "endangered the life and health of the EU chief executive." He wants the Security Council the hear the competent authorities and services report on "the reasons for this failure of the security systems and to plan actions for future prevention of such risks and encroachments on national and international security," the Facebook post reads.

Atanasov added that on Wednesday Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov will be given a hearing at the National Assembly regarding "the state of the system for protection of national security, including aviation safety and for countering the threats arising from the operation of Russian special services in the territory of Bulgaria".

Earlier on Monday, European Commission Spokesperson Arianna Podesta said the Commission had received information from the Bulgarian authorities that they suspect that a possible GPS incident with the airplane that carried von der Leyen during her trip to Bulgaria was due to blatant interference by Russia. "We can indeed confirm that there was GPS jamming, but the plane landed safely in Bulgaria," the Spokesperson specified.

For its part, Bulgaria's Government Information Service said that when approaching Plovdiv Airport (South Central Bulgaria) on Sunday, the flight carrying the European Commission president lost the satellite GPS signal to its navigation system. In order to ensure the safety of the flight, the Bulgarian Air Traffic Services Authority immediately proposed an alternative landing method using ground-based navigation aids (instrument landing).

The Financial Times reported Monday morning that "a suspected Russian interference attack targeting Ursula von der Leyen disabled GPS navigation services at a Bulgarian airport and forced the European Commission president's plane to land using paper maps."

Approached by The Financial Times, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that "your information is incorrect". The TASS News Agency quoted this refutation, adding that when asked whether Bulgaria had produced any evidence of Russia's interference with von der Leyen's flight, Podesta had answered in the negative.