Russia Probing Sweeden

[Ryan Ruck]

(Machine translation from link)

Russian Planes Violated Swedish Airspace

September 18, 2014

Two Russian fighter jets of the type Su-24, should have crossed the Swedish territorial waters south of Öland at noon on Wednesday, according to Expressen.

The plane lifted off from Kaliningrad, flown at the Polish coast when the east of Bornholm turned north and flew at low altitude against Oland.

The plan turned eastwards, leaving Swedish airspace after a Swedish Gripen aircraft marked presence.

Armed Forces would not comment on the incident until an analysis has been made, writes Erik Lagersten, communications director, in a written comment:

"Only when the analysis is finished with a secure observed events, and the exact circumstances understood, making the Armed Forces decision on further management within and outside the Agency."

Swedish territory has been violated several times this year. On 18 July this year, violated an American reconnaissance aircraft Swedish airspace, after the international airspace chased away by Russian aircraft.

On June 20 violated two Polish plane Swedish airspace. According to Carl Bildt was probably by mistake.

Last year there were two confirmed violations. One occurred on the 28th October when five Russian planes, including two bombers conducted attacks exercises against Sweden, Poland and the Baltic states in two hours. Two Swedish Gripen fighters were sent up to mark attendance.

Early on Good Friday 2013 was practicing Russian planes near Sweden. Swedish Gripens stayed on the ground, which was criticized.

[Ryan Ruck]

Changed the thread title as it seems now the Russian Navy is involved.

Sweden: 3 Credible Sightings In Submarine Search

October 19, 2014

The Swedish military said Sunday it had made three credible sightings of foreign undersea activity in its waters during the past few days amid reports of a suspected Russian intrusion in the area.

Rear Adm. Anders Grenstad said the armed forces had observed the activity in the Stockholm archipelago and nearby coastal area, but declined to give details of an operation reminiscent of the Cold War, when Sweden's armed forces routinely hunted for Soviet submarines in its waters.

The armed forces published a photograph taken on Sunday by a passerby showing a partially submerged object in the water from a distance, but it was unclear what kind of vessel was in question.

Grenstad told reporters that he wouldn't speculate on the photograph or sightings except to say the region is "of interest to a foreign power."

The military said the intelligence operation, involving a few hundred people, began Friday. It was sparked by information "from a credible source."

Grenstad said it had no information about any emergency messages suggesting a Russian mini-submarine had run into trouble in Swedish waters and could be damaged, as reported by the Svenska Dagbladet daily.

The Defense Ministry in Moscow said its submarines and ships have been "fulfilling their tasks in the world's oceans," according to plan, Russian news agencies reported.

"There have been no emergencies or accidents with Russian military vessels," an unnamed spokesman at the ministry was quoted as saying.

Anders Nordin from the Swedish Maritime Administration said a Russian-owned oil tanker, Concord, which had reportedly been circling near Swedish waters for days, started sailing in a northeasterly direction toward Russia on Sunday morning. But it suddenly turned around and headed back in the direction of Sweden, according to Marine Traffic, a website which monitors vessels in the Baltic Sea.

Media reports said the movements of the Liberian-flagged tanker might be connected to the submarine search.

In 1981, a Soviet sub carrying nuclear weapons was stranded off Sweden's southeastern coast, causing an 11-day diplomatic standoff before Swedish authorities allowed the submarine to return home.

Swedish officials wouldn't speculate on what foreign power could be behind the suspected intrusion Friday. Last month, the Foreign Ministry summoned the Russian ambassador to protest a violation of Swedish airspace by two Russian military aircraft.

[Ryan Ruck]

(Machine translation from link)

Damaged Russian Sub Sought In The Archipelago

October 19, 2014

An emergency call on Russian submarine preceded the alarm in the Stockholm archipelago. When the submarine launched the search also started radio traffic between a transmitter in the archipelago and one transmitter in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad. This suggests that there may be a damaged Russian submarine in Swedish waters.

SvD can reveal startling new information. This applies to events that occurred before and during the ongoing submarine reconnaissance.

The new data come from the Swedish signals intelligence. Such are conducted by the National Defence Radio Establishment (FRA) and the various units of the Armed Forces, such as Navy ships.

Officially launched the submarine on the search Kanholmsfjärden by optical observation. That is, a person saw a subject. The Navy could quickly rule out that it was some kind of animal or natural phenomenon. It was instead a "human made ​​object," according to SvD's sources. In plain Swedish, it is about a submersible, or a mini-submarine or even a larger submarine.

But what has come to is that there are also top-secret technical information pointing to a specific country: Russia.

Already Thursday, October 16, before the submarine alarm, perceived the Swedish signal intelligence a radio conversation in Russian. What is unusual about the conversation that took place on the evening was that it was broadcast on a particular radio frequency. It is an emergency channel, used by Russia. Approximately 14 hours later, at noon on Friday 17 October, discovered an alien craft in the heavily trafficked Kanholmsfjärden submarine and the search began.

That evening could signal detection re intercept interesting radio traffic. It was at 22 o'clock. But this time it was encrypted traffic. Encryption is used to prevent outsiders to access the content.

But even encrypted radio transmissions going to sound in and thus can determine where the sender and recipient are located geographically. The scanners showed that the transmitter was in the vicinity of Kanholmfjärden. In the other direction the traffic went from a transmitter that also could pejlas in: the sender is in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad.

These data have been confirmed for SvD by various people with knowledge of the ongoing the search. However these would not speculate on whether there is a damaged submarine in Swedish waters.

- We are now concentrating on the state of the ongoing alien underwater activity or not, says one of the Svenska Dagbladet's sources.

Armed Forces writes on their website that they would neither confirm nor deny the reports. On Sunday morning, they are extremely frugal with comments:

- What I can say is that the operation continues and that, as announced yesterday, expanded, said Defence officer informant, Day Enander.

If a submarine or mini-sub would be in distress, it may explain why it appeared on the heavily trafficked Kanholmsfjärden. The point of the submarine systems is that they do not show. But if a midget submarine encounter technical or other problems on board, it can be difficult to maneuver. Then a part of the craft inadvertently break the water surface. That Sweden bugged the Russian emergency call on Thursday may also have contributed to the rapid Swedish reaction on Friday. Navy ships and amfibiesoldater was in place at Kanholmsfjärden already a few hours after the optical observation.

In Kaliningrad there are large parts of the Russian Baltic fleet and various special forces, Spetsnaz. It is known that the Baltic Fleet has mini submarines. A range of evidence in recent years suggests that the Spetsnaz operated with mini-submarines in Swedish waters during the Cold War. Mini submarines were transported during the Soviet era hidden in converted fishing or merchant vessels. If an underwater vehicle is damaged it is natural that an aid or mother ships are staying nearby. This happened in 1988 during an anti-submarine warfare in Hävringebukten when a Soviet submarine salvage ship was waiting in international waters.

Since last Wednesday, October 15, has a ryskägt handelssfartyg remained almost stationary in international waters outside the Stockholm archipelago. It is the oil tanker NS Concord on 57 000 dwt, owned and operated by the company Novo Ship in Novorossiysk in Russia but sailing under the Liberian flag.

- We are aware of the ship and have an eye on it, says one of the Svenska Dagbladet's sources working with the search submarine.

Saturday night seems the ship suddenly departed eastward, just after Svenska Dagbladet published online.

Defence presents staff anticipates that there will be another press conference today on Sunday, but it is not fixed. No comments given to whether an incident occurred during the night.

- The answer I can give is that there is still an ongoing intelligence operation, says Dag Enander on Sunday morning.

[American Patriot]

Interesting. WHY are they probing Sweden of all places?

[Avvakum]

Interesting. WHY are they probing Sweden of all places?

Sweden was always to be invaded, whether neutral or not, by the Soviet Union in it's strategic military doctrine as part of the northern front of it's war against NATO. Same as Switzerland. They intended to seize all of Europe, just as Victor Suvorov wrote in 'Icebreaker' about Stalin's intentions during WWII. Hitler invaded the USSR just weeks before the Soviets were to launch their attack, which wasn't planned to end until the Bolsheviks were in the Atlantic facing across Dover England instead of the Nazis....

Nothing has really substantially changed, has it?

[American Patriot]

And the Russian sub is still missing.... somewhere in Swenden.

Swedish Hunt for ‘Russian’ Sub Recalls the Cold War

• Lisa Abend @LisaAbend

2:52 PM ET

Swedish minesweeper HMS Koster searching for what the military says is a foreign threat in the waters in the Stockholm Archipelago, Sweden, on Oct. 19 2014. Marko Saavala—AFP/Getty Images

Russia denies it has a submarine in the area but the search continues

For the last six days, Sweden’s Navy has been in full Hunt for Red October-mode. Ever since a mysterious, unidentified vessel was spotted south of Stockholm, Swedish ships and helicopters have been searching the area for what media reports says is a damaged Russian submarine that has surreptitiously made its way into the Nordic country’s waters. Those reports were only amplified when, on Oct. 18, Sweden reportedly intercepted communications between transmitters in the Stockholm archipelago and the Russian town of Kalingrad. If all that activity sounds like it was lifted from the screenplay of a 1980s Hollywood military thriller, it raises a very real question.

Twenty-five years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, has the Cold War returned?


According to Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet, the first sign that something was amiss came on Oct. 16, when Swedish intelligence detected a distress call from somewhere in the Stockholm archipelago. The next day, two civilians reported spotting a submarine-like object in waters about than 40 kilometers east of Stockholm.

Sending out 200 troops on corvettes and minesweepers, the military began scouring the area for what it said was most likely a foreign vessel conducting operations in Swedish waters. The sightings, which have now increased to five, took place in “an area that is of interest to a foreign power,” said Swedish Rear Admiral Anders Grenstad at a press conference on Oct. 19. “This does not belong to us. It is a foreign vessel and we have no indications that there would be any civilians involved in underwater activity.”

Although Swedish military and government officials have not identified the nationality of the craft, nor even confirmed that it is indeed a submarine, Dagbladet was less circumspect, publishing stories about the encrypted Russian transmissions and noting that a Russian tanker supposed to be sailing to Denmark had instead been zigzagging through the Stockholm archipelago for the past week, possibly in an attempt to aid a damaged submarine. The Russian government has denied it has a submarine in the area.


Konstantin Sivkov, a retired navy officer of the former Soviet Union who is now head of the Academy of Geopolitical Problems, a think tank with ties to the Russian military, said that surveillance in foreign waters was the normal practice of many navies but that it was very unlikely that a Russian submarine was currently in Swedish waters.
“Judging by the available information, there was no submarine. Had there been a submarine stranded in Swedish waters, and if it had been sighted surfacing and heard giving audio transmissions, it would be found in 3-4 hours maximum,” he told TIME.


Magnus Nordenman, deputy director of the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security in Washington, D.C., suggests that the presence of a clandestine vessel in the Nordic region would certainly fit within recent Russian practices. “It’s one more data point in a larger pattern,” Nordenman says. “Over the past three years, and especially in the last year, the Russians have made more and more incursions into Swedish airspace. There have been close calls between their ships too.”


And it’s not just the Swedes who are the target. In March, Russia staged a large-scale military drill close to the Finnish border, and its fighter jets have violated Finnish airspace five times already this year. In 2013, Russian jets challenged Danish airspace more than 40 times—double the number of the previous year—and are on track to surpass that number this year. “I keep arguing that the Baltic Sea area is the next friction point between an assertive Russia and NATO,” says Nordenman. “It looks like a peaceful, prosperous area, but when it comes to security, it’s quite soft.”


Ironically, part of that softness comes precisely from the distance that the Nordic countries have tried to put between themselves and the Cold War era. With threats to their territorial integrity greatly diminished, Sweden and Denmark have, in recent years, made the strategic decision to dedicate the better part of their military budgets toward establishing a global presence (in Iraq and Afghanistan, among other places). As a result, Sweden has reduced its number of submarines to just five; Denmark has gotten rid of them altogether. “In part, it was symbolic,” says Johannes Nordby, a commander in the Danish navy and security expert at the Royal Danish Defence College. “Submarines represented a Cold War weapon, and the Cold War was over.”


Or so the Nordics thought. With the conflict in Ukraine, Putin has made clear his desire to both re-establish a broader sphere of Russian influence and to stand up to NATO and the European Union. “The Cold War was a political and ideological war as much as it was a military one, and we don’t have those [elements] now,” says Nordby. “But it was also about influence. I would argue that what’s happening now is a sign of Russia wanting a new and more significant role in the Baltic region, and internationally.”


Russia’s increased assertiveness is already influencing political debate in the Nordic region. Neither Finland nor Sweden are members of NATO, and with public opinion running strongly against, neither shows any immediate inclination to join. But both signed a pact in August that would increase their cooperation with the alliance, and would allow NATO troops to assist in the two countries in case of emergencies, and there may be more concessions to come. “If the submarine proves to be Russian,” says Harri Mikkola, a global security researcher at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, “it will further increase security policy discussions in Finland. Nato discussion will intensify, but even more so the discussion concerning the need to deepen military cooperation with Sweden.” And this week, while debates broke out in the Danish press about Denmark’s military preparedness, the Swedish Prime Minister announced he would increase defense spending.


But if history is any example, none of that will likely help capture the unidentified vessel currently hiding in Swedish waters. During the Cold War, Soviet submarines reportedly made numerous incursions into the country’s territory, but with the exception of one that ran aground in 1981, none were ever caught. Which is why Admiral Grenstad probably had the past in mind when he announced to the press on Tuesday that his navy would continue the search. “It’s like Jesus,” he said. “Everyone knows who he is but no one has seen him.”


With additional reporting from Simon Shuster/Moscow

[American Patriot]

Sweden’s Military Scours for Possible Russian Submarine in Its Waters

• Per Liljas

Oct. 20, 2014

Swedish corvette HMS Visby patrols the Stockholm Archipelago October 19 2014, searching for what the military says is a foreign threat in the waters. Marko Savala—TT News Agency/Reuters

A man-made object has been spotted deep inside the Stockholm archipelago, and encrypted communication with Kaliningrad intercepted

A large military operation is under way in waters off Stockholm to sweep for a “foreign underwater activity” widely speculated to be a damaged Russian submarine, in what could be the gravest violation of Sweden’s maritime sovereignty since the Cold War.

The intelligence operation, involving helicopters, minesweepers, corvettes, fast-attack crafts, a submarine and 200 service personnel, started on Friday, after a “man-made device” was sighted deep inside the Stockholm archipelago and encrypted radio communication was intercepted between that position and Kaliningrad — the base of Russia’s Baltic Sea fleet.


Sweden’s military said Sunday it had made a total of three credible sightings within two days and released an image taken by a passerby showing a partially submerged object, but has yet to comment on whether it is a Russian submarine. A suspicious black-clad man was also photographed wading in the waters outside the island of Sandön. On Oct. 2, a navy ship collided with an object in the vicinity, which some believe could have been a submersible that has since fallen into distress.


Intelligence expert Joakim von Braun told the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter that the spotted object could be an advanced mini submarine of the model Triton-NN, and that the stranded crew could have hidden themselves on one of the many nearby islands while waiting to be picked up.


“It could very well be the case that a Swedish sleeper agent is activated since the embassy personnel is too monitored to carry out such a mission,” he said.
Russia has recently been increasingly bullish against its Baltic and Nordic neighbors, prompting some to speculate that they are trying to discourage these countries from deeper cooperation with NATO. In September, Russian fighter jets reportedly violated Swedish airspace, and Finland claims that the Russian navy harassed one of its environmental research ships in international waters last week.
However, maritime incursions have not been apparent since the 1980s, when Sweden’s military was frequently scrambled to investigate, and sometimes hunt, suspected Russian submarines in its waters. International law allows warships to cross maritime borders, while submarines may only do so while surfaced unless previous notification has been given.
Tomas Ries, a researcher at the Swedish National Defense College, says it would be a serious violation if a Russian submarine were located this far into Swedish waters.
“When the Russians violate airspace it’s a political signal, when they practice strategic bomb attacks it’s a political signal,” he told the Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet.
“But if they are going on like this in Swedish waters it suggests that they are preparing something,” he adds, suggesting perhaps mines or reconnaissance equipment. Alternatively, says Ries, they may have “left something there during the Cold War that they want to update,” describing all explanations as “severe.”
An unnamed Kremlin military source apparently denied that the mystery craft was Russian when speaking to state-backed news agency RT. “No extraordinary, let alone emergency situations have happened to Russian military vessels,” said the source.

[Ryan Ruck]

I bet some depth charges might liven things up a bit.

[American Patriot]

I'm putting this here, even though the word "Unknown" was used. We ALL KNOW who the Unknown is.

Home> International
Swedes: Unknown Submarine Did Violate Our Waters

STOCKHOLM — Nov 14, 2014, 11:58 AM ET
By KARL RITTER Associated Press





A photo of a sonar image made available by the Swedish military which they say shows sub-sea tracks left behind by a mini-submarine. Supreme Commander Sverker Goranson said Friday Nov. 14, 2014 the Swedish military has "clear evidence" that a small... View Full Caption The Associated Press







Sweden has confirmed that a small foreign submarine illegally entered its waters last month, though it's still unclear which country was behind the intrusion, officials said Friday.


In unusually stark language for the nonaligned country, Prime Minister Stefan Lofven warned that such incursions into Swedish territory presented "enormous risks" for those involved and that Sweden would defend its borders "with all available means."


The Scandinavian country launched its biggest submarine hunt since the Cold War on Oct. 17 after receiving eyewitness reports of some type of underwater craft in the archipelago that extends from Stockholm into the Baltic Sea. It called off the search after a week, saying the vessel had probably escaped into the Baltic.


Military officials never blamed any country, though most Swedish defense analysts say Russia would be a likely culprit.


"It's impossible ... to confirm any nationality. But we can confirm the fact that it has been there," Supreme Commander Sverker Goranson said at a joint news conference with Lofven and Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist.


Goranson said the military obtained evidence of the intrusion with its own sensors, but declined to give details.


Lofven noted that Sweden's coastline is as long as the U.S. East Coast, making it difficult to monitor, but promised to strengthen the country's ability to find and identify intruders.


"Let me say this, loud and clear, to those who are responsible: It is completely unacceptable," Lofven said.


Sweden built up an anti-submarine force after a Soviet sub with nuclear weapons ran aground off its southern shores in 1981, but started dismantling the force as part of deep cuts in defense spending after the Cold War ended. Anti-submarine helico

[Ryan Ruck]

Russia Taking Jabs At Sweden

October 24, 2014


Sweden's chase for what is widely suspected to be a submerged Russian submarine operating within its territorial waters can't help but remind older Swedes of the fact that, during the Cold War, Swedish waters were thought to be regularly covertly probed by submarines belonging to the Soviet Union.

Indeed, back in 1981, the "Whiskey on the Rocks" incident saw a Soviet attack submarine carrying nuclear-tipped torpedoes run aground on the shoals not far from the Swedish naval base at Karlskrona.

Fast forward more than three decades, and Vladimir Putin's Russia is by no means the threat -- materially or ideologically -- that the Soviet Union was during the Cold War. But the fact that the Russian leader has made it clear that he does not accept the advance of democratic regimes onto Russia's doorstep -- whether they be tied either to the European Union or NATO -- is bound to mean that this latest incident will have echoes of times past for many Swedes.

And Putin has been willing to match words with action.

With a plan under way to modernize Russia's military over the next decade, Moscow has increasingly been willing to flex its armed muscle not only in Ukraine, but against other neighbors as well. In the case of Sweden, this has included Russian simulated air attacks against Stockholm, the buzzing of Swedish ships and planes by Russian aircraft and, as recent as this September, the alleged violation of Swedish airspace by two Russian Su-24s, a supersonic attack aircraft.

Putin's jabs at Sweden are undoubtedly also tied to the fact that the government of Sweden has, in reaction to Putin's revanchist policies, increased its operational ties to NATO and neighboring NATO states even while remaining formally outside the alliance.

In fact, the submarine chase that is now occurring comes on the heels of Sweden's participation in a Baltic Sea military exercise that included vessels and aircraft from Denmark, Poland and the Netherlands.

Such cooperation is needed precisely because Sweden has, like the rest of Europe, spent much of the post-Cold War era cutting its defense budget and the size of its armed forces. For example, Sweden's navy today has fewer than 10 surface combatants, no operational anti-submarine warfare helicopters and only five submarines. It was only two years ago that Sweden's top military officer admitted that his forces could only defend a small segment of the country for about a week without outside help.

All this suggests that the hard reality is that Sweden is in Moscow's sights -- and not just because Stockholm leans toward the West in its policies.

The region's geography means that any conflict in the Baltic region would almost certainly involve Sweden. Kaliningrad, Russia's major military enclave on the Baltic Sea, is hemmed in by Poland and Lithuania on its borders and Sweden by the sea, and control of the latter's airspace and seas could be decisive if a major conflict should occur.

In mid-September, Swedes went to the polls and rejected a third term for the center-right coalition that had governed Sweden since 2006. The new government is an alliance of left-leaning parties led by the Social Democratic Party and has pledged to increase defense spending.

No doubt, news of a possible Russian sub trolling in Swedish waters will bolster public support for the government's decision to up Swedish military capabilities.

The question Stockholm will face is whether the planned increase -- less than $1 billion over 10 years -- will be sufficient to make up for the two decades of decline and adequate to deal with Russian plans to expand its military strength.

For decades, the Swedish government has avoided taking explicit sides between Brussels and Moscow. But the Swedes will find sitting on the fence to be increasingly uncomfortable when Putin is your next-door neighbor.