Sweden calls off hunt for mystery submarine
SWEDISH authorities called off their weeklong search for a suspected submarine in the Stockholm archipelago early yesterday, saying the presumed intruder had probably escaped into the Baltic Sea.
Naval and amphibious forces were ordered back to base, while some ground forces remained in the search area. “We assess that the (vessel) that violated our waters has now left,” Rear Admiral Anders Grenstad said.
Sweden’s military launched its biggest anti-submarine operation since the twilight of the Soviet Union last Friday after receiving what it said were credible eyewitness reports of some type of underwater craft in the archipelago that extends from the capital, Stockholm, into the Baltic Sea. Grenstad said it was probably not a large submarine, but a smaller underwater craft that could navigate shallow waters in the archipelago. He didn’t rule out that there were more than one.
Military officials haven’t blamed any country for the suspected intrusion, though most defense analysts say Russia would be a likely culprit.
Russia has suggested that the suspected intruder might be a Dutch submarine that participated in an exercise with the Swedish navy last week. The Dutch navy said that submarine had arrived in Estonia last Friday, when the Swedish military received reports of suspicious activity.
“I don’t want to comment on what Russia says,” Grenstad said. “I have never singled out any nation. This is intelligence work to determine what is in our waters and what nationality it is.”
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