A Spanish military aircraft carrying Defence Minister Margarita Robles encountered a GPS “disturbance” on September 24 while flying over Russia’s Kaliningrad enclave en route to Lithuania, Spain’s Defence Ministry confirmed. The anomaly in the satellite navigation system raised concerns about possible electronic interference in the militarised region, though officials said the flight continued safely. The incident follows a similar case on August 31, when suspected Russian jamming forced EU chief Ursula von der Leyen’s jet to land in Bulgaria using paper maps after its GPS system failed.
The Western Balkan countries have emerged as a frontline in Russia's geopolitical confrontation with the West. These nations—Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Moldova, and Serbia—have been termed by academics at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace as "in-between" countries set in an "arc of instability." But what exactly does this mean, and how much of a threat does Russia pose?
Click through the following gallery and learn more about this complex geopolitical situation that could endanger these five states and destabilize the European Union.