60 MINUTES
- So, Russia won't stop hacking everyone and everything. This time, we've been accused of jamming GPS signals during the NATO drill, which is actually of unprecedented scale. This is the largest NATO drill since the end of the Cold War. And that's not all. The case is absolutely unprecedented.
- Look carefully. This is an outrageous incident: The Norwegian Ministry of Defense claims that the GPS signal of a navigation system, I guess, was jammed by Russian troops deployed on the Kola Peninsula. Finland has already joined those accusations. It's official. Last weekend, the prime minister of Finland claimed that the GPS was disrupted in the region of Lapland. That's exactly where Santa Claus lives. Of course, we hope that this malfunction didn't prevent him from receiving children's letters from all over. There isn't much time before Catholic Christmas, just over one month.
Now, joking aside! That'd be okay if a frigate hadn't sunk after a collision with a tanker during the drill. It collided with a tanker. Let's listen to the conversation of the two vessels which took place immediately before the collision.
- Helge Ingstad, is that you approaching us?
- Yes, that's us.
- Pass us on the starboard side.
Helge Ingstad, you should do something, you're too close.
Helge Ingstad, make a turn, we're going to collide now.
I've collided with it.
- Roger that.
- We have an alert. We're trying to get the situation under control.
"In an e-mail, the Ministry said that it's aware of Russian troops jamming the GPS signal from October 16th to November 7th on the Kola Peninsula. Last weekend, the prime minister of Finland also claimed that the GPS was deliberately disrupted in Northern Lapland. Air navigation providers for civilian aircraft received relevant warnings. Without providing any further evidence, Prime Minister Sipilä claimed that Russia may be responsible. "It's quite possible that Russia could be behind this malfunction," he said in his interview for Yle Channe"l.
- Igor Yurievich, why did the ship sink?
Igor Korotchenko, military expert: First, I can advise NATO servicemen that if the American GPS malfunctions, they can use the Russian GLONASS. By the way, it's more accurate than its American counterpart in northern latitudes. You know, there isn't a weapon in the world that could jam the GLONASS system over such a huge area. It simply doesn't exist. Science and technology say it's impossible. Why are the Ministry of Defense and the government of Norway are trying to make something up? The situation is really bad. It's unprecedented that they lost an advanced Aegis combat system equipped missile frigate in peacetime when the officers decided to conduct some navigation drill on the bridge. Indeed, that led to the loss of a piece of NATO and Norwegian Navy military equipment.
The case has no precedents in recent history. Theoretically speaking, the Minister of Defense of Norway and the General of NATO should be dismissed because this is an unprecedented case. In this situation, they need to put the blame on someone. Of course, it's Russia that jammed the GPS, which caused the collision and sinking of this advanced combat frigate. It's very simple: always look for a Russian.
