Russia targets Sweden's satellite networks following its NATO membership

Photo: Ulf Kristersson, Prime Minister of Sweden (Getty Images)

Russia has begun to disrupt Sweden's satellite networks. This happened after the Scandinavian country became a NATO member, according to the letter from the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority.

The Authority asked the International Telecommunication Union to consider Russia's harmful actions at a meeting to be held on Monday, June 24.

The letter states that Russia attempted to disrupt Sweden's satellite networks on March 21. This happened two weeks after the country officially joined the North Atlantic Alliance.

Swedish authorities said that the interference from Russia and Crimea affected three different Sirius satellite networks serving the Scandinavian countries and Eastern Europe.

“These disruptions are, of course, serious and can be seen as part of wider Russian hybrid actions aimed at Sweden and others,” Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said in a comment to Bloomberg.

According to him, Sweden is working with other countries to respond to such actions by Russia.

What happened before

On May 2, Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said that Russia's actions had led to a failure of the GPS signal in the Baltic Sea region.

He clarified that Russia deliberately jams the signal, and this has intensified over the past year and a half.

The media also reported that Finland has been experiencing massive GPS malfunctions in aircraft amid Russia's war against Ukraine.