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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

