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THE SWEDISH ARMED forces stepped up a military operation off the coast of Stockholm last night where they were investigating a report of “foreign underwater activity”.
More than 200 men, Swedish stealth ships, minesweepers and helicopters have been searching an area of the Baltic Sea about 50 kilometres (30 miles) east of the Swedish capital since Friday evening, following a tip-off from what the military called a “credible source”.
“I have decided to increase the number of units in the area — units with specialised sensors,” Commander Jonas Wikstroem told reporters at a press conference in Stockholm.
“We still judge that the information we received yesterday was very trustworthy,” he added, but declined to comment on what the military had discovered after more than 24 hours sweeping the sea around islands in Stockholm’s archipelago.
Swedish defence analysts cited by local media speculated that a foreign submarine may have been in the area to replace old spy equipment or to monitor a Swedish naval exercise.
Wikstroem declined to give details of the reinforcements to the “intelligence gathering” operation as they could provide information to “a potential opponent on how and where we are working” if there is ongoing “underwater activity”.
Sweden’s new Social Democrat Defence Minister Peter Hultqvist — who took office just a fortnight ago — refused to comment on the military operation but told the daily Svenska Dagbladet that his government would be more open about military incursions in the Baltic than its centre-right predecessor.
“What’s been happening in the Baltic Sea, including airspace incursions, shows that we have a new, changed situation,” he told the newspaper.
“Russia has made enormous military investments… with their increased strength they are training more, and that influences the security environment.”
In recent months, Sweden has seen an uptick in Baltic Sea manoeuvres by the Russian air force. In one incident in September, two SU-24 fighter-bombers allegedly entered Swedish airspace in what Foreign Minister Carl Bildt at the time called “the most serious aerial incursion by the Russians” in almost a decade.
During the 1980s and early 90s the then-neutral — and now non-aligned — Nordic country was regularly on alert following Russian submarine sightings, including one notable case in 1981 when a Soviet U-boat ran aground several miles from one of Sweden’s largest naval base.
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Putin is hungry for war. He is noting more than a dictator who is doing nothing to improve the lives of his people
lol, that’s the most idiotic comment of the year.
The US & Britain are the warmongers, as proven by a long list of decimated countries.
Can’t both sides be warmongers?
He’s been probing the readiness of several European nations for a few years now.
Testing readiness & responses.
Most recently its been neutral Sweden his armed forces have been checking on.
Recently the Russian navy sent a vessel alongside the Netherlands… They didn’t even have so much as a dinghy to respond with.
Previous to that, the UK, who took days to scramble a type-45 destroyer.
Its all intentional, all planned.
Nothing like this is accidental.
Stars field,
Czechoslovakia, Afghanistan and a couple of former USSR nations.
How do you know?
sarsfield – yeah the Russian powers that be are saints that wouldn’t harm anyone – especially countries on its borders… Russia also wouldn’t dream of having in power (inside the last 60 years) a dictator that would kill tens of millions of his own people… or it wouldn’t oppress its own people or seek to disrupt peaceful countries through espionage and political unrest. Yeah its all one sided.. Putin for President (wait a minute didn’t he already exhaust his term of office?)… Putin for President for Life.
Welcome to Itchy and Scratchy land.. where nothing could possiblie go wrong.
What a stupid comment from celtic spirit. The US escalated every dispute out of all proportion and has fomented war in Europe leading to the deaths of thousands of Russians in Ukraine. btw there isn’t a shred of evidence that it’s s Russian sub. These incidents occur all the time.
John could it be that the Swedish know it is in fact a Russian sub from their information source?
I am quite sure that the Swedish intelligence services are capable of running an agent or two in the Russian military.
When Russia start fueling the ICBM’s is when this sh#t gets serious! !!
John, any update on your family’s move to Russia. Back in February, you stated you were moving your family there later this year. Or, did you have a change of heart? Just interested to know how it’s working out for you.
The Dutch frightened them off by firing bongs at the ship.
Just need to wave a rainbow flag!
It’s no big deal Russia and Nato navies have been play hide and seek for decades….why stop now !!
Yes Putin certainly wants war, look how close he places his country to US / NATO militarty bases and this will get worse when NATO Robs Syria and later Iran. NATO is the wicked arm of Satan, when it takes over a foreign country Christian populations deminish.
Agree. America has invaded 70 countries since WWII and nobody bats an eyelid.
Yes America has removed evil dictators from many of these 70 countries and the ironic thing about all this is that the current president of the USA is worse than all the dictators of these countries combined.
John, “these incidents happen all the time” and “no evidence it’s a Russian sub”
So what kind of incidents happen all the time?
Recently Russian military planes were flying close to Alaskan and Canadian airspace. American and Canadian jets were scrambled to respond. Now are you going to say that there is no evidence they were Russian?
There is a thing called sonar and ships use it to see what’s under water. I’m sure the swedes can take a guess there is a sub down there. If it’s their own they will know that as it’s one of their own! So they can draw a conclusion that it’s Russian because other countries will let them know that one of their subs is in their waters. The Russians are being sneaky here.
It’s probably just Kim Jong-Un out scuba divin!
Oh those Russians
Pesky Russians
Maybe they’re Irish Ukrainians not Russians.
Obama to Romney: ‘the 1980′s called they want their foreign policy back’ …. oh how we laughed.
I love the way Russia doesn’t give a flying f¥ck about any other country.
You would say that considering your avatar.
When Russia harasses neutral nations like Sweden, it should be a worry.
When the US destabilises this continent introducing for the first time it’s perma war strategy after a coup it’s time to be worried. The US is using Europe as a stick to poke an increasingly irritated bear that has to sit back and watch US backed Nazis murder Russian civilians in Ukraine. In any dispute we will suffer the yanks will high tail it and do their usual trick of leaving an ally high and dry.
@john do you mean like Cuba/Russia?
Both sides are a**holes… equally. We’re the gombeens in the middle..but our interests are best served with the US no matter how unpalatable that maybe to some – its the geopolitical reality… “its the economy stupid”.
Don’t mess with Nuclear Russia.
Putin will only take so much of NATO’S greed and terrorism. The mess that it has left right across the middle east is a testiment to this vial and Satanic organsation.
NATO is doing the dirty work in setting up this rising fascist up and coming Zi0nist one world government.
The Putin fan club have arrived anyway. Didn’t take long.
Better a Putin fan club than a fan club of an organisation that has enflamed the middle east in sponsoed Jihad terrorism.
Completely unlike Putin’s actions in Afghanistan, Dagestan and Chechnya, then. Russia’s hands are far from clean on this matter, and are as much an enemy of the jihadists as ‘the West’.
meant to say ‘Russia’ rather than ‘Putin’ above.
Frank, check out how the Russians bombed Grozny in ’95.
Here’s a video. And please don’t say that Hollywood faked it.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?autoplay=1&v=GaFrCy9HTOM
Hmm, my comment won’t post?
Anyway frank, look on YouTube for the destruction of Grozny in the ’90s. That’s what your Russian friends are capable of.
And please don’t tell me that Hollywood faked it.
Terrible headline. The journal is now fully established as part of the mainstream media. I hope it isn’t a Russian submarine but nowhere it is stated that the submarine is Russian.
I am not pro Russian but the world needs a strong Russia and China.
They can be strong but would be nice if their people could live in peace not fear
it would be nice if the american and brits could live in peace not fearm i guess if they stopped bombing and murdering they could……….
America needs war can you imagine its economy with out its arms industry
What about Russia’s arms industry? Don’t try to demonise the Americans, when Russia sells millions of weapons to Assad and his murder squads.
Re Derek
I see you have swallowed whole the Western mainstream media narrative re Syria. The SAA, Assad and the Syrian government have done a heroic job of defending Syria from a proxy invasion.
Syria was invaded after it signed an energy deal with Iran and Iraq which upset Qatar and hence Western interests. Qatar, Derek, is the country that invaded and toppled Gaddafi in Libya under the guise of a ‘revolution’ with the help of illegal air sorties by NATO.
The US, the ‘West’ have supported these Islamic jihadists such as Al Nusra/ISIS etc in Syria. They gave caused mayhem in Syria and the Syrian government and army have done a fantasy job fighting back. NATO’s own polls show support for the Syrian government at well over 80%.
Wake up Derek, read books. Ignorance is the greatest evil.
Re Enda
I agree with you. That’s the whole crux of the problem. That and the petrodollar and the need for ever more reasons to spend US dollars and keep them from coming back and flooding the US. A former US President, G Bush, said to the ex Argentinian president that war was the only way to really boost the US economy. It’s true. The returns for companies on the FTSE companies are 2/3%. The returns for arms companies are 20% plus. That’s it all in a nutshell.
The headline is laughable “Sweden is chasing a Russian submarine” yet nowhere in the article does it state such a thing. The Journal would make the Sun proud with such bullsh*t sensationalist crap!
Horgay. Why does the world need 2 repressive nations (China & Russia) to have strong military? Would you prefer to live where you are not permitted to critise the government, where your access to the internet is severely restricted, where you need special permission to move from one part of the country to another, where. The courts have already decided your guilt and sentence before your trial even begins, where the president/premier can change the constitution at will to suit themselves?
Re Mick
You must be unaware of two countries known as the US and the UK.
The US has stopped Habeus Corpus under provisions in the NDAA and removed all tights for citizens with this act and the Patriot Act. Citizens of the US Oligarchy have no rights now. So what are you saying is hypocritical in the extreme.
The UK has brought in such repressive laws that it now has the right to block websites and monitor what it’s citizens are reading/watching on the Internet. The UK has already implemented these laws by blocking thousands of Islamic websites it believes are aimed at recruiting Jihadists. The Prime Minister of the UK has called anybody who questions the official conspiracy of 9/11 and other conspiracy theories as extremists and the UK Secretary has said that medieval treason laws from 1353 could be re enacted to allow prosecution of people it believes are fighting in Syria and committing war crimes. No such prosecution from the UK on citizens who fight in the IDF and do commit war crimes.
Both these countries monitor all communications in the world by everyone including emails, texts, calls etc and the US stores this data on everyone indefinitely at its Utah centres. The US currently offers no human rights to prisoners it details in Guantanamo Bay.
I am getting tired of you Mick and your hypocrisy and inability to think independently.
Horgay. Are you attempting to say that US courts are not independent? Are you trying ti tell us that its illegal to critise the US or UK governments? Are you trying to say that one needs special permission to move around either country? Are you saying that the US or UK governments block access to the internet for its citizens? When was the last time the audio-visual and or print media in Russia or China openly critised either Putin or the Communist Party?
Btw Horgay. If you read rhetorically Patriot act it is all about intelligence gathering. And as for the NDAA how many times has that been used against US citizens to deny them the right of a trial?
Horgay, and you really think that Russia and China do not monitor communications ? Wasn’t it China that had Google access heavily restricted to it’s own citizens ? Do not other nations monitor communications ? Do you believe that other countries are not happy to get some of this information ? Does Ireland refuse it ? And who, pray tell, is the “UK Secretary”?
You really do need to take of those Russian Rose-tinted glasses for a while and see how the world really is, rather than your perennial “East/Communists good – West bad” mantra.
Re Joseph
Typo error.
Foreign Secretary, Hammond.
I am not pro Russia or China just as I am not pro UK or US etc.
I am pro a close a version to the truth as possible.
Of course China oppresses a small percentage of its population. Of course. Russia is not ideal either. Yet to believe that the West is ideal is absurd. It has flaws and oppressive laws as bad as and in many cases worst than China or Russia or North Korea or Indonesia or wherever.
Horgay. You said that “China oppresses a small percentage of it’s population” So you think that not having the freedom criticise the Communist Party is not oppressive? Or the right of religious freedom is not oppressive? Maybe you think not having the right to choose the government by general democratic vote is not oppressive? What about the right to gather in groups larger than 4? Do you think complete control all media and internet is not oppressive?
Considering that the CIA assassinated Olof Palme the swedes have more to worry from the yanks than the russians, it’s probavly a yankee sub.
Russia can simply do what ever she wants. No other country can or would take her on…….even America.
Putin is a nut…..the sooner he goes the better.
Don’t mistake Russia for a superpower. They are regional heavyweight but their armed forces were in a dire state for many years and they’re only starting to improve now. America spends billions more on their defence budget, Russia has no intention of getting into a conflict with them.
John.. if America brings “democracy” to Russia do you honestly think it would be any better?
For starters ethnic cleanzing would be imminant, Russian orthadox Christianity would be wiped out and the country would be turned into a vast terrorist run wasteland just like Iraq, Lybia, Afghanistan, syria.
A terrorist-run statelet like the heavenly Putin-friendly paradise of Chechnya?
Robert, Chechnya is miniscual to the damage caused by the US to the middle east
Oh, so Chechnya is a grand little place then?
So you agree Frank that Russia is not a Democracy.
Next time Russian jets invade the airspace of another country, fire warning shots. If they continue to fly, shoot them out of the sky.
Putin could do us all in if he wanted… I reckon he is an anti-christ
i reckon you’re a fool
I reckon you want u a fair bit of Fox News
I reckon your a dick
I think that’s termed- paranoia.
None of the current unrest across the globe could be blamed on O’bama and his criminal negligence and incompetence could it ?
Peace prize Obama representing the US and NATO has bombed 7 countries since he took up office. Putin is a saint compared to these warmongering psychopaths pulling the strings of the west.
more propaganda from Journal.uk
So could the Russians do similar to our country
We already gave up our territorial waters when we joined the EU. We aren’t even allowed to fish them more than 4%. We have a couple of old naval boats that can hardly intercept a Spanish trawler laden with our fish. Maybe we should regain our independence and stop foreign fishing trawlers from destroying our fishing stocks before we wet ourselves worrying about Russian subs?
paint the post boxes green and fool them into thinking they are free
How’s life in Moscow John?
Get the facts straight lad or keep up with mainstream news….Irish Navy have purchased a fleet of high performance, extended endurance patrol frigates built in the UK specially for use by our coastal and fisheries protection and are far from clapped out as you put it. We also have an air corps wing with amazing tech that more than adequately protects our fisheries from poachin’ trawlers etc !! …just sayin’.
The Sam Beckett & Joyce are far from Frigates.
Though they are a step up than their predecessors & fine vessels in their own right.
Jento, cat & mouse games are continually happening between subs and defence forces from Russia and other major military powers – you can be sure this is happening off the coast of Ireland too.
It doesn’t say it is a Russian submarine, so equally it could be an American sub, do people think the Americans don’t trespass in the territorial waters of foreign countries?
Uptick??!! Thick shit!!
As far as I know, U-boat is a word used in English to denote submarines operated by the German navies in the two world wars (it stands for Unterseeboot). It’s not a simple synonym for submarine. So it’s unlikely that a Soviet U-boat ran aground in the 80′s. Minor terminological point but just thought I’d mention it.
How about having some evidence before presenting statements as facts when in fact they are speculations. When it is known who’s sub it is then you can print that as fact.
This type of “carry on” is about as common as snow in Sweden. Now if the Swedes find a fish with Ebola or a long lost Viking long boat with a satnav that would be news.
None the wiser
Put my head between my knees and kiss my arse goodbye! WW3 anyone?
The hunt for red in October
Looking at the “evidence” of the picture of the so-called UFO on the water, have these Swedes ever heard of the Loch Ness monster? It might be worth checking it out, save them a huge amount of hassle and silliness.
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