Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on December 22, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 20, 2026
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Italian prosecutors found no evidence of Russian drones over an EU research center, attributing interference to a GSM booster.
MILAN, Dec 22 (Reuters) - Italian prosecutors investigating suspected Russian drone flights over an EU space research centre have concluded their suspicions were unfounded and have requested the case be dropped, two sources with knowledge of the matter said.
Milan prosecutors found that 21 alleged overflights between March and May 2025 were actually caused by interference from a private GSM phone signal booster near the European Joint Research Centre (JRC) in Ispra, near Italy's Lake Maggiore.
Flights over the JRC, which opened in 1960 as a nuclear research site, are banned.
Following alerts from the facility, the prosecutors launched an investigation in March into possible military or political espionage for terrorist purposes, suspecting the presence of a Russian-made drone.
However the investigation showed the repeated false positives were due to overlapping interference between the centre's own security system and sporadic activity from the GSM amplifier in a nearby home, the sources said.
A judge at the Milan court will now decide whether to accept the prosecutors' request and drop the case, something which is normally a formality.
NATO allies frequently accuse Russia of mounting hybrid attacks on the West through hacking, sabotage and espionage. Moscow denies the allegations, saying the West is fuelling anti-Russian sentiment.
The JRC website says the Ispra site is the European Commission's third-largest research campus after Brussels and Luxembourg, working on issues ranging from nuclear safety and space to sustainable resources, migration and transport.
(Reporting by Emilio ParodiEditing by Gavin Jones and Frances Kerry)
A drone is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that can be remotely controlled or fly autonomously using software-controlled flight plans.
Military espionage refers to the act of spying or gathering intelligence on military operations, capabilities, or plans of another nation or organization.
A GSM signal booster is a device that amplifies cellular signals to improve reception for mobile phones in areas with weak coverage.
The European Joint Research Centre (JRC) is the European Commission's science and knowledge service, providing independent scientific advice and support to EU policies.
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