Fourteen European nations issued a joint warning Sunday that Russian interference with satellite navigation systems poses safety risks to all vessels in the Baltic and North Seas, while signaling that sanctions-evading ships could be treated as stateless and denied port access.
The coordinated letter, signed by Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden and the United Kingdom, explicitly accuses Russia of creating “new emerging safety situations” through growing disruption of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS).
“These disturbances, originating from the Russian Federation, degrade the safety of international shipping,” the nations stated in the letter published on government websites Sunday. “All vessels are at risk.”
The signatories control virtually all waters in the Baltic and North Seas through their exclusive economic zones, positioning them to enforce regulations against both Russian electronic warfare and Moscow’s shadow fleet of aging tankers used to circumvent sanctions. That control extends to all traffic reaching Russian ports in Kaliningrad and St. Petersburg.
Modern shipping depends on satellite navigation not just for positioning but for precise time synchronization vital to systems including the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System, the letter emphasized. Spoofing or falsifying tracking data “undermines maritime safety and security, increases the risk of accidents, and severely hampers rescue operations.”
The Royal Institute of Navigation released a maritime report documenting the scale of interference based on input from over 100 sector experts and 300 vessel captains. At least two collisions and groundings in 2025 were linked to satellite disruption in the Baltics, Strait of Hormuz and Red Sea, with hundreds of vessels affected daily, according to the report.
“The issue of GNSS interference must be taken seriously. It cannot be overcome by traditional navigation techniques when GNSS receivers are baked in to modern ships’ critical systems, including safety systems,” said Captain Ivana-Maria Carionni-Burnett, chair of the Royal Institute of Navigation Maritime Navigation Group. “These are no longer isolated incidents and pose a real risk to life: people, property and the environment.”
Researchers at Gdynia Maritime University and GPSPATRON in Poland detected 84 hours of satellite interference over six months in 2024, with 29 hours occurring in October alone. The interference patterns, matched with vessel movement, pointed to ship-borne jammers operating in international waters.
The joint letter invokes 13 specific requirements under International Maritime Organization conventions and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, including provisions that vessels flying multiple flags “may be treated as a ship without nationality.” The warning applies particularly to shadow fleet tankers that often operate with substandard documentation and insurance.
“We stress that the full and consistent implementation of the International Maritime Organization regulations is fundamental to ensuring maritime safety,” the letter stated, citing “the increasing use of shadow fleet vessels to circumvent international sanctions” as a safety threat.
The nations called for the development of alternative terrestrial radionavigation systems to substitute for satellite systems during disruption. The UK has operated an eLoran system since 2014, while Germany’s DLR leads a project expanding coverage to Finland and Estonia.
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Keir Mather signed the letter on behalf of the United Kingdom.
Russia maintains that all shipping routes to Kaliningrad and St. Petersburg must transit lengthy distances through Baltic and North Sea waters controlled by the letter’s signatories. Any enforcement action slowing or restricting this commerce could carry significant economic consequences for Russia’s northwestern industrial regions.
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