Russia is skirting NATO's red line, representatives of the alliance become a military target

Russia's alleged satellite signal jamming of a military aircraft carrying the British defense minister would—if confirmed—be Moscow's latest flirtation with a hard NATO red line; the safety of allied leaders.
According to Newsweek, Grant Shapps was returning from a visit to observe NATO military drills in Poland, when interference occurred close to the Russian Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad, a strategic and heavily militarized location known as an electronic warfare hub.
The interference lasted around 30 minutes, blocking cell and internet connection and forcing the aircraft to revert to alternative location technologies.
An unnamed British Defense Ministry source told The Times that the Royal Air Force is "well prepared to deal with this," but suggested such measures put "an unnecessary risk on civilian aircraft and could potentially endanger people's lives." The incident, the source added, was "wildly irresponsible on Russia's part."
However, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's spokesperson downplayed concerns.
"It didn't threaten the safety of the aircraft and it is not unusual for aircraft to experience GPS jamming near Kaliningrad, which is of course Russian territory," they said.
The Shapps incident is not the first, nor even the most serious, occasion on which a NATO member minister has potentially been endangered by Russian military activity. Just last month, a Russian missile struck Odessa while Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was visiting the port city with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The missile fell somewhere between 700 and 1,600 feet of the Greek leader, according to multiple reports.
Killing or wounding a NATO leader would not automatically trigger the alliance's Article 5 collective defense clause. While allies "agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all," members must agree to invoke Article 5.
NATO's founding document notes that any military assistance must be given "in accordance with their respective constitutional processes," meaning the agreement of national decision-making bodies.