(2 Sep 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Luxembourg – 2 September 2025
1. Wide of NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte arriving and being greeted by Luxembourg Prime Minister Luc Frieden and Luxembourg Defense Minister Yuriko Backes
2. Rutte, Frieden and Backes posing for photos
3. Rutte and Frieden meeting
4. Rutte, Frieden and Backes arriving at press briefing
5. Mid of camera
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Rutte, NATO Secretary-General:
"It (suspected jamming of navigation on EU leader’s plane) is taken very seriously. I thank you for the question. And this is exactly why NATO is stepping up when it comes to hybrid, cyber, etc. And we have agreed on policies there to really be more effective in this area. I always hated the word hybrid because it sounds so cuddly, but hybrid is exactly this: jamming commercial airplanes with potentially disastrous effects, an assassination attempt on a big industrialist in one of (the) NATO allied countries, attacking the National Health Service in the United Kingdom, so these are not cuddly, small incidents, these are huge incidents which have a huge impact. And that is also why when we found out about the cutting of the undersea, sea cable between Estonia and Finland on the 25th December last year that the Supreme Allied Commander launched his enhanced vigilance activity in the Baltic Sea, Baltic Sentry within ten days. So, I am not saying that we have completely cracked this and solved this altogether, but to your question I can assure you that we are working day and night to counter this, to prevent it and to make sure that they will not do it again."
7. Mid of journalist
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Rutte, NATO Secretary-General:
"The threat from the Russians is increasing every day, let’s not be naive about it. This might also involve one day Luxembourg, my country the Netherlands. We are all safe now, we think we are far away from Russia, but we are very close by. And the latest Russian missile technology, for example, the difference now between Lithuania on the frontline and Luxembourg, The Hague or Madrid is five to ten minutes. That’s the time it takes this missile to reach these parts of Europe. So we are all under direct threat from the Russians. We are all on the eastern flank now, whether you live in London or in Tallinn, there is no difference anymore."
9. Wide of Rutte shaking hands with Frieden and Backes and leaving briefing
STORYLINE:
NATO is actively attempting to thwart Russian jamming of commercial flights, said the alliance’s chief on Tuesday, a day after a jet carrying European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen was hit by GPS jamming over Bulgaria.
The plane landed safely, but Bulgarian authorities said they suspected Russia was behind the interference.
“It is taken very seriously," said NATO Secretary-General, Mark Rutte, during a news conference in Luxembourg with the alongside the country’s prime minister and defense minister.
“I can assure you that we are working day and night to counter this, to prevent it, and to make sure that they will not do it again.”
He did not elaborate.
Russia did not publicly respond to the allegations. Von der Leyen has not publicly commented on the incident.
The EU and NATO are separate entities with different sets of member countries, but Europe’s security is a vital issue for both.
Rutte said the jamming was part of a complex campaign by Russia of “hybrid threats”.
“I have always hated the words hybrid because it sounds so cuddly, but hybrid is exactly this jamming of commercial airplanes, with potentially disastrous effects.”
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