Russia blamed for GPS interference affecting flights in Europe

Tartu Airport relies solely on GPS, unlike most larger airports which have alternative navigation systems that allow aircraft to land even if the signal is lost.

“We have proof that it is coming from Russia, and Russia is violating all the international agreements.”

Mr Tsahkna said that by jamming GPS signals, Russia was “violating our territories” and putting people and civilian aeroplanes in danger.

Keir Giles, director of the Conflict Studies Research Centre, a British think tank, believes Russia is meddling with GPS for both offensive and defensive reasons.

He says that while on the one hand, Russia is testing “its capabilities for immobilizing Europe completely in time of crisis”, it is also trying to protect itself from possible missile and drone attacks.

But of course that doesn’t mean that Russia doesn’t benefit from making sure that GPS simply does not work,” Mr Giles told the BBC.

Aircraft may have backup systems to work around GPS jamming, but Dana Goward, president of the US-based Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation, which protects and improves GPS communication, says that meddling with signals still poses serious risks because “all of our systems and society has been structured around precise GPS signals”.