Sweden certain that a submarine was operating in its waters
The government of Sweden has offered proof of what it claims was a submarine patrolling the waters off its coast.
Reuters reports that Sweden released a photograph that shows what appears to be the hull of a submarine just barely breaching the surface, no more than three miles from the Swedish coastline.
The incident caused Sweden to scramble its military resources and deploy 200 troops in addition to ships and aircraft in a fruitless search for the submarine, according to Reuters. Sweden says it has not been able to identify the nationality of the submarine, but holds no doubt whatsoever that its territorial integrity was violated. The submarine was first detected by military sensors, and Sweden offered the photograph as well as sonar images as proof, according to Reuters. Although the Swedish government did not identify the submarine's nationality, reports in the Swedish press said the military intercepted distress calls in Russian and that is what triggered the search, according to Foreign Policy. Bloomberg Businessweek reports that in response to the incident, Sweden has vowed to increase its military spending and preparedness. It will also step up security at its borders. Reuters says a large part of that spending will be on the air force and navy. Sweden plans to purchase 70 fighter jets and a number of submarines to bolster its military defense. Bloomberg notes that the decision to increase military spending comes after decades of cuts to the defense budget after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Foreign Policy points out that those budget cuts severely hampered the Swedish military's search for the mystery submarine. For example, the helicopters critical to submarine hunting were no longer in service as long ago as 2008.
