Backbytes: Kremlin gets into a GPS jam in Moscow

Muscovites have to resort to roadmaps to get around the Russian capital

For some time now, Muscovites have observed how their satnavs go bonkers the closer to the centre of Moscow they go. Hence, if you had a job interview at a prestigious address in Moscow, you'd be advised to print a map off rather than rely on Yandex.Navigator.

And if you wanted to play Pokémon Go among the tourist hotspots in the centre of Moscow, forget it.

Now, though, an enterprising chap called Grigory Bakunov, better known to his Russian audience as blogger and podcaster Bobuk, has found out why: the Kremlin, in its infinite paranoia, has installed three powerful GPS jamming devices, presumably to confuse foreign spies who are incapable of reading maps.

Bakunov found out what was going on by taking to his Segway and measuring the strength and accuracy of geolocation signals for both the GPS and GLONASS satellite positioning systems. Mapping where the devices succumbed to location spoofing, he was able to calculate pretty much where the jamming devices were located.

Not only was the Kremlin jamming the L1 frequency used by consumer devices, but also L2 and L5, which are typically used by the military. "Bakunov speculates that this is because the government is targeting drone quadcopters, many of which now come preprogrammed to stop operating near major airports," according to the Moscow Times.

As a reward for Bakunov's enterprise, he'll no doubt either be offered either a prestigious job at the Kremlin's Ministry of Hacking or be given a bracing, polonium-laced cup of tea.