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 The search in the Baltic Sea less than 30 miles (50 km) from
Stockholm began on Friday and reawakened memories of the final years
of the Cold War when Sweden repeatedly sought out suspected Soviet
submarines along its coast with depth charges.
The military showed one picture of what appeared to be a craft
surrounded by white ripples. The witness who took the photograph
said the vessel then submerged -- one of three sightings that the
military said were credible reports.
The Swedish armed forces have consistently labeled the their hunt
one of investigating "foreign underwater activity" but elaborated on
what that might entail on Sunday.
"It could be a submarine, or a smaller submarine," Rear Admiral
Anders Grenstad told a news conference. "It could be divers using
some form of moped-like underwater vehicle and it could be divers
that don't have any business on our territory."
Grenstad said the sightings had taken place in "an area that is of
interest to a foreign power", but added he was not in a position to
link the observed activity to any particular nation.
"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,” he said.
The incident comes amid rising tension with Russia among the Nordic
and Baltic states -- most of them European Union members -- over
Moscow's involvement in the Ukraine crisis. Finland last week
accused the Russian navy of interfering with a Finnish environmental
research vessel in international waters.
Reported sightings of one man dressed in black wading through waters
led to speculation of Russian special forces in the archipelago,
normally a popular holiday destination consisting of thousands of
small islands.
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The Swedish military has said the initial information about
suspicious underwater activity came from a trustworthy source,
without providing details, and that more than 200 military personnel
were involved in the search.
The Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet, citing unidentified sources
with knowledge of the hunt, said it began after a radio transmission
in Russian on an emergency frequency.
Further encrypted radio traffic from a point in the archipelago and
the enclave of Kaliningrad, home to the Russian Baltic fleet's
headquarters, was intercepted on Friday evening after the Swedish
search started, the newspaper said.
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Grenstad said the armed forces had not received any information
about a distress signal.
The Russian Defence Ministry said on Sunday there were no
emergencies in the Baltic involving its vessels.
"Russian Navy ships and submarines are fulfilling their duties in
the world ocean waters in accordance with the plan," Interfax news
agency quoted a ministry spokesman as saying. "There are no
extraordinary, let alone emergency, situations involving Russian
warships."
Countries in the Baltic Sea region have become increasingly wary of
Russia's military ambitions since Moscow annexed Ukraine's Crimea
region in March following the overthrow of Kiev's pro-Moscow
president by protesters.
Last month, Sweden said two Russian warplanes entered its air space,
calling the intrusion a "serious violation".
Should the present search find proof of foreign military activity in
Swedish coastal waters it will represent the first real test of
Prime Minister Stefan Lofven's center-left minority government less
than three weeks after it took office.
In 1981, a Soviet submarine known under its Swedish designation U137
was stranded deep inside Swedish waters not far from a major naval
base in the neutral country, sparking intense suspicion about the
scale and motives of such incursions.
(Additional reporting by Alexei Anishchuk in Moscow, Editing by
Crispian Balmer)
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