Swedish ships, helicopters and troops are scouring the waters off Stockholm for what was officially described as “foreign underwater activity”, amid reports that a Russian submarine might have had mechanical problems while on a secret mission in the archipelago.
In scenes reminiscent of the cold war when neutral Sweden regularly swept the island-strewn Baltic Sea coastline around the capital for Soviet spy submarines, more than 200 service personnel were mobilised along with helicopters, minesweepers and an anti-submarine corvette fitted with stealth-type anti-radar masking.
The operation began late on Friday following what Sweden’s ministry said was a reliable tipoff about “foreign underwater activity” in the archipelago. The officer leading the operation declined to give more details, saying only that there had been no armed contact.
“We still consider the information we received as very trustworthy,” Captain Jonas Wikstrom told reporters. “I, as head of operations, have therefore decided to increase the number of units in the area.”
The Svenska Dagbladet newspaper said it was believed the intruder was a Russian submarine or mini-submarine that may be damaged. It said the operation was launched on Friday after a visual sighting of a “human-made object” in the waters. The day before, Swedish intelligence operators intercepted a radio conversation in Russian on a frequency usually reserved for emergencies, the paper said.
Another signal was intercepted on Friday night, but this time the content was encrypted. However, the report said, Swedish intelligence was able to pinpoint the locations of the participants. One was in the waters off Stockholm, while the other could be traced to Kaliningrad, the port that is the home of Russia’s Baltic Sea fleet.
The military sources would not confirm that a Russian craft was in distress, Svenska Dagbladet reported, but Russia does have mini-submarines based at Kaliningrad, it added.
Defence analysts cited in other reports speculated that a submarine might be have been replacing old spy equipment or monitoring a Swedish naval exercise.
Sweden is among a series of Nordic and Baltic nations on increased alert over growing tensions with Russia in the wake of the Ukraine crisis. In September two Russian Su-24 attack jets reportedly violated Swedish airspace over the Baltic, prompting Sweden’s air force to scramble its own fighters.
Last week Finland complained that the Russian navy had twice harassed one of its environmental research ships in international waters, ordering it to change course and later sending a helicopter and submarine to pass close by.
The submarine hunt is an early political test for Stefan Lofven, the new prime minister, whose centre-left minority government took office this month. Peter Hultqvist, the defence minister, told Svenska Dagbladet that the government hoped to be more open than its predecessor about military activity.
“What’s been happening in the Baltic Sea, including airspace incursions, shows that we have a new, changed situation,” he said. “Russia has made enormous military investments … with their increased strength they are training more, and that influences the security environment.”
Alerts were not uncommon during the cold war. The most famous incident took place in 1981 when a Soviet submarine hit rocks near Karlskrona, the main Swedish naval base, in the south of the country. The Russian captain claimed that the submarine had strayed off course and got lost.
After a tense standoff in which a Russian recovery convoy turned back after Swedish coastal artillery and warships trained their guns on it, Sweden interrogated the captain and inspected the submarine, before towing the craft off the rocks into international waters.
In scenes reminiscent of the cold war when neutral Sweden regularly swept the island-strewn Baltic Sea coastline around the capital for Soviet spy submarines, more than 200 service personnel were mobilised along with helicopters, minesweepers and an anti-submarine corvette fitted with stealth-type anti-radar masking.
“We still consider the information we received as very trustworthy,” Captain Jonas Wikstrom told reporters. “I, as head of operations, have therefore decided to increase the number of units in the area.”
The Svenska Dagbladet newspaper said it was believed the intruder was a Russian submarine or mini-submarine that may be damaged. It said the operation was launched on Friday after a visual sighting of a “human-made object” in the waters. The day before, Swedish intelligence operators intercepted a radio conversation in Russian on a frequency usually reserved for emergencies, the paper said.
Another signal was intercepted on Friday night, but this time the content was encrypted. However, the report said, Swedish intelligence was able to pinpoint the locations of the participants. One was in the waters off Stockholm, while the other could be traced to Kaliningrad, the port that is the home of Russia’s Baltic Sea fleet.
The military sources would not confirm that a Russian craft was in distress, Svenska Dagbladet reported, but Russia does have mini-submarines based at Kaliningrad, it added.
Defence analysts cited in other reports speculated that a submarine might be have been replacing old spy equipment or monitoring a Swedish naval exercise.
Sweden is among a series of Nordic and Baltic nations on increased alert over growing tensions with Russia in the wake of the Ukraine crisis. In September two Russian Su-24 attack jets reportedly violated Swedish airspace over the Baltic, prompting Sweden’s air force to scramble its own fighters.
Last week Finland complained that the Russian navy had twice harassed one of its environmental research ships in international waters, ordering it to change course and later sending a helicopter and submarine to pass close by.
The submarine hunt is an early political test for Stefan Lofven, the new prime minister, whose centre-left minority government took office this month. Peter Hultqvist, the defence minister, told Svenska Dagbladet that the government hoped to be more open than its predecessor about military activity.
“What’s been happening in the Baltic Sea, including airspace incursions, shows that we have a new, changed situation,” he said. “Russia has made enormous military investments … with their increased strength they are training more, and that influences the security environment.”
Alerts were not uncommon during the cold war. The most famous incident took place in 1981 when a Soviet submarine hit rocks near Karlskrona, the main Swedish naval base, in the south of the country. The Russian captain claimed that the submarine had strayed off course and got lost.
After a tense standoff in which a Russian recovery convoy turned back after Swedish coastal artillery and warships trained their guns on it, Sweden interrogated the captain and inspected the submarine, before towing the craft off the rocks into international waters.
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