Mystery deepens over reported Russian sub in Sweden
October 21, 2014
STOCKHOLM: Mystery deepened Sunday over a Swedish military operation triggered by “foreign underwater activity” off the coast of Stockholm, amid an unconfirmed report of a hunt for a damaged Russian submarine.
Late Saturday, Swedish armed forces stepped up an operation — involving more than 200 men, stealth ships, minesweepers and helicopters — in an area about 50 kilometres east of the Swedish capital. The manuevers were initiated Friday after the armed forces said they had been informed of a “man made object” in the water.
Officials denied they were “submarine hunting,” calling the mobilisation — one of the biggest, barring purely training exercises, since the Cold War — an “intelligence operation”. Russia also denied on Sunday that any of its submarines were involved.