Navigational Sabotage: The Baltic Sea's Misdirected Vessels

Finland's Coast Guard has detected GNSS signal disturbances in the Baltic Sea since April, leading vessels astray. Finland accuses Russia of GPS jamming, affecting navigation systems, and highlights tanker location spoofing to conceal Russian trade. Allegedly, signal interference aims to safeguard Russian oil ports from possible strikes.

Finland's Coast Guard reports continuous disruptions to satellite navigation signals in the Baltic Sea, starting from April. Notably, tankers have been observed falsifying their location data, ostensibly to disguise trips to Russia.

Interior Minister Lulu Ranne mentioned last week that Finland suspects Russia in orchestrating these disturbances in GNSS and GPS signals within Finland and the Baltic region, affecting navigation. These interferences, notably increasing since April in the Gulf of Finland, have misled ships, prompting Finnish authorities to intervene to prevent accidents.

The disruptions have impacted vessels' Automatic Identification Systems (AIS), crucial for electronic navigation, with AIS devices reportedly being intentionally deactivated resulting in falsified online location data. Commander Pekka Niittyla from the Gulf of Finland Coast Guard stated the spoofing technique has been detected approximately ten times recently, indicating a potential link to evading international sanctions.

(With inputs from agencies.)