BILDT TO FOCUS ON SUBMARINE INCURSIONS DURING MOSCOW VISIT

• Document Type: FOIA
• Keywords: UFO SPECIAL COLLECTION
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005517522
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: June 24, 2015
• Document Release Date: January 31, 2011
• Case Number: F-2010-00651
• Publication Date: February 3, 1993

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Document 1
CLAS UNCLASSIFIED
CLAS UNCLASSIFIED
AFSN PM0302131393
DDAT 930203
SLIN Moscow IZVESTIYA in Russian 3 Feb 93 p 3
AUTH Marat Zubko and IZVESTIYA military observer Viktor Litovkin under the
general heading: "Swedish Prime Minister Going to Moscow To Resolve
'Periscope Problem"'
SUBS [Reports by Marat Zubko and IZVESTIYA military observer Viktor Litovkin
under the general heading: "Swedish Prime Minister Going to Moscow To
Resolve 'Periscope Problem'"
SUBJ Bildt to Focus on Submarine Incursions During Moscow Visit
Full Text Superzone of Message
1 ]
2 [Text] Stockholm -- "Carl Bildt is flying to Moscow with a new analysis of
the situation concerning foreign submarines violating Swedish territorial
waters," Swedish radio stated when commenting on the Swedish prime
minister's forthcoming visit to Russia.
3 The local press claims that a wide range of questions concerning bilateral
relations, including trade and economic ties, will be discussed at the
talks in Moscow, but the Swedish guest intends to focus on the problem of
mysterious submariners violating Swedish waters.
4 Your correspondent discovered from Swedish sources that as recently as
last week copies of magnetic tapes were sent to Russia, containing
recordings of noises from the screws of a submarine (or submarines?) which
the Swedish coast defense was hunting in the fall _of-last-year-off the
country's eastern seaboard.
5 There are all the signs that Carl Bildt will try and obtain the Russian
authorities' admission that it is actually Russian submarines which are
the transgressors. The prime minister has consistently favored the
version of events which says that Soviet submarines were violating
Sweden's skerries in the past, and that now Russia is doing the same.
Last year people in Sweden began to express their doubts about this
despite the longstanding "periscope campaign." First of all Commodore Carl
Andersson, who is well-known in the country and was in the past a leader
of the coast defense, stunned many, Swedes by calling the rumpus over the
foreign submarines' incursions into the Swedish skerries a "figment of the
imagination similar to flying saucers."
7 But not so long ago Wilhelm Agrell, Sweden's leading specialist on
problems of peace and conflicts, made a fairly sharp statement: The
information about the Russian submarines' actions in the Baltic Sea, which
Stockholm is receiving from Moscow, is being hushed up in Sweden.
8 W. Agrell considers that "Swedish-Russian relations are too serious a
matter to be entrusted to individuals who decide them at their
discretion." The expert also thinks that the prime minister has been tying
up all his political prestige in the submarine issue.
9 Several specialists in Stockholm assert that the Swedish guests will even
attempt to tie the submarine issue in with that of granting credit to
Russia of 1 billion Swedish krone (approximately $135 million) as a single
"package" at the talks in Moscow.
10 The Swedish prime minister will also discuss other questions in Moscow,
which are complicating Swedish-Russian relations. The following fact
testifies to the seriousness of his intentions: His visit will be an
official one. [Zubko ends]
11 [Litovkin begins] The Swedish prime minister is expected in Russia.
People here wish to draw a line under the protracted "periscope war,"
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although the experts I know claim that this will not be easy to
accomplish.
12 The Swedish side does not possess precise and clear arguments which
indisputably prove the appearance of Russian submarines in Swedish
territorial waters. All the recordings of underwater noises which have
been received from Stockholm are of a very poor quality. I1 is impossible
to draw from them an unequivocal conclusion about the presence of
submarines and to whom they belong. It is no accident that even the prize
of 1 million Swedish krone, announced last fall for any Russian Navy
sailor providing evidence of the borders being violated, has remained
unclaimed. In our experts' opinions, the Swedes will have to find a way
of extricating themselves honorably from an unpleasant situation which is
of their own making.
13 On the other hand, our Navy's Main Staff is also failing to give the
public clear proof that Russian submarines have never been in Swedish
waters except for the single incident in 1981.
14 It is being asserted that during the Swedish premier's visit to Russia, he
and President B. Yeltsin will sign a document in which both sides will
pledge to cooperate in the search for the truth. How successful this
cooperation vill be is an open question. (endall) 3 feb
03/1358z feb BT #9059 NNNN