Swedish ships, seeking a foreign submarine, “established contact” with several objects lying on the bottom
In Sweden, where the operation does not stop search “unknown submarine”, which supposedly is a Russian military might attacked on the trail.According to “Radio Liberty” with reference to the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet , the search zone “unidentified submarine” was limited, as the ships ran into some “suspicious objects” lying on the bottom.
Swedish ships “made contact” with several underwater objects east of the fjord Ingarё. This narrow fjord is bordered to the island from the north and Ingarё islands Gosё Elё and from the south.
According to local journalists, “suspicious objects” lie on the bottom without moving a few hundred meters from each other. In the search area are minesweeper, coastal corvette, coastguard corvette “Stockholm” and tabletop vessel “Trossё.”
Currently, the military restricted zone in the search area for the civil courts, as well as for members of the press. At the same time, it is worth noting that the searches are conducted not only in these places.Swedish ships examined territory and on the high seas near Danziger Gatt, at the outlet of the archipelago.
Representatives of the Swedish authorities claim to have received more than 100 messages from people who allegedly saw the alleged submarine, reportsThe Local . “Such signals continue to arrive, and we are pleased with this” – said the representative of the Swedish Armed Forces Sverker Yeranson.
Swedish military does not exclude that can use weapons against “foreign submarine.” “We will use weapons if need be,” – said Yeranson, responding to a question about how to how funds are willing to use the military to make underwater vessel to the surface.
We add that the Swedish Armed Forces has officially denied the reports that the reason for the search operation in the territorial waters of the country could become a Dutch submarine. This version of the eve of the Russian side proposed, denying information about the Russian submarine.
As the RIA “Novosti” , the General Staff of the Swedish Armed Forces has sent a message that said: “We can say that, as we were able to establish a foreign presence, which we are investigating, is not associated with a submarine of the Netherlands who visited Sweden last week.”
Earlier, the Swedish media, citing unnamed sources said that the object of the search operation may be a Russian submarine . In particular, the newspaper Svenska Dagbladet suggested that the submarine may be in poor condition, as signals intelligence service was zapelengovat transmission in Russian at the frequencies used by the Russian Navy in extreme situations.
In turn, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation noted that “during the last week it was the Dutch diesel-electric submarine” Breynvis “rehearsed in the vicinity of Stockholm practical problems.”
“Mini-fleet”: Sweden has insufficient resources for full search of the mysterious submarine
Foreign journalists have noted that Sweden has enough power for a full search operation. “The foreign submarine activity”, which they say Swedish authorities are likely to be hard to identify, as the costs of the Swedish defense for many years, only reduced.
“Spent the 1980s, the game of cat and mouse in a Soviet submarine, the Swedish anti-submarine defense now only pale shadows of themselves in the past,” – wrote journalist Elias Groll blog Foreign Policy , which cites InoPressa .
“Implementation of the Swedish authorities search works much more difficult with the lack of helicopters acoustic sonar. Since the Stockholm archipelago is crowded with islands landscape, it has become a kind of famous training ground for submarines, has a large number of natural objects, for which you can hide, avoiding surface vessels, – he said. – However, the Swedish fleet ASW helicopters was abolished in 2008, and its replacement is not expected until 2018. “
Edition of The Guardian ironically: “Once the hunt for the submarine in the waters of the Stockholm archipelago, has elements of farce: for Russian mini-submarine chasing Swedish mini-fleet”. As stated in the article, Sweden 20 years reduced the defense budget. As a result, now may erupt again debate about the country’s joining NATO.
According to the newspaper, “for defense policy in Sweden for a long time is characteristic of doublethink, and society is like.” Swedish public opinion – open against NATO membership, but everyone knows which side to take in the event of war, Sweden. The article notes that the outcome of the incident in any way put the hand in an awkward position. If the Swedes will be able to find and rescue the submarine, Russia will look like a bully-inept. If the Swedes will not find anything, then even more doubt on the effectiveness of their armed forces.In the long term geo-strategic position in Sweden means that its entry into NATO is almost inevitable.
Version: small-sized submarine from Russia could follow the teachings of the NATO
Military experts have commented on the incident with “underwater activity” at the Swedish coast, suggesting that it may indeed be small-sized Russian submarine.
“Probably, it is a small-sized submarine, which can collect information. Much the submarine is not turned on to such a confined space,” – said the source The Guardian of NATO.
According to Igor Sutyagin, a Russian expert working now in London, it is possible that it is a Russian submarine. “It could be” Triton “, the submarine, which accommodates two divers, used by special forces and so small that it can be hidden in a van, or” Piranha “, accommodating four to six people,” – he said. Such submarines as “Piranha” – absolutely silent – in Russia was made only two, and one of them was armed with the Baltic Fleet of the Russian Navy.
Sutyagin said that such midget submarines often went down to the water from a hidden compartment in the ship, but just in the area were recorded strange movement of the Russian oil tanker. Swedish expert on the Russian military theory at the Royal College in London Oscar Jonsson said that the photograph published by the military department of Sweden, sealed something resembling a submarine “Triton”.
The article Foreign Policy noted that the incident with the mysterious submarine “occurred immediately after the military exercises Northern Archer in the Baltic Sea, which involved Swedish and Dutch forces.” “Some analysts have suggested that the submarine was in this area in order to observe the teachings and to gather intelligence,” – noted journalists.