1/20/19
“Norwegian authorities have raised the questions through diplomatic and military channels,” says acting head of communication with the Foreign Ministry, Kristin Enstad, to the Barents Observer. She confirms the issue was on the agenda when Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Søreide met Sergey Lavrov last December. The two had bilateral talks in Milan, Italy, following the OSCE Ministerial Council. While Moscow denied all accusations of being behind interference of GPS navigation over Finnmark and Troms last fall, no comments have been voiced this time about the recent January jamming. Russia’s Oslo Embassy has not replied to requests from the Barents Observer to comment on the case. Chief of Police in Eastern Finnmark, Ellen Katrine Hætta, fears for the emergency preparedness in Norway’s northernmost region. “What now happens is deeply worrying and could put public safety at risk,” she said after pilots flying regional routes from Tromsø to Kirkenes again reported about interruption of their on-board GPS navigation systems. "We depend on good GPS signals to quickly locate areas with people missing in extreme weather." Minister of Justice and Public Security, Tor Mikkel Wara, shares the Chief of Police’s concerns. Wara writes in an email to the Barents Observer that Russia’s jamming “leads to increased risks for accidents in the transport sector.”
In Vardø, a tiny island on the Barents Sea coast, Ståle Sveinungsen and his fellow officers keep their eyes on maritime safety for all ships in Norwegian waters, from the North Sea in the south to beyond Svalbard in the Arctic. Sveinungsen says it is dangerous if the navigator on bridge does not understand that satellite navigation signals are gone. “The fact that ships may lose GSP signals would be unfortunate and there may be risks.” Kristin Enstad tells her ministry has an ongoing contact with Russia about the issue. “Russia has so far not accepted responsibility for the incidents, but signals willingness to discuss the question on expert level.” “The Foreign Ministry considers the Russian disruption of signals on the Norwegian side of the border as very serious,” she underlines and adds such incidents cause “a risk to aviation safety in Norwegian airspace.” Norway’s military intelligence confirms to TV2 that GPS signals were interrupted in the border areas to Russia on the 9th and 10th of January.
