Swedes say end to impasse over sub. ‘in sight’

Press, 3 November 1981, Page 8

Swedes say end to impasse over sub. ‘in sight’

NZPA Stockholm An end to the stalemate over a Soviet submarine stranded near a top-secret Swedish naval base since last Tuesday is in sight, a Swedish Defence Ministry spokesman has said. He said everything was now ready for a Swedish commission of inquiry to interview the commander of the submarine in the presence of two Soviet diplomats accredited to Sweden. Until now. the commander. Captain Piotr Guzhin,- has refused to leave the vessel.

which ran aground on a rocky shoal off Karlskrona, ’ southern Sweden. He has also refused to speak to the investigatory body to explain what the submarine was doing in restricted waters or to hand over his ship's log. Swedish sources said the closed-doors hearings, which could be lengthy, would be conducted at a secret location outside the Karlskrona base perimeter. The submarine officer would probably be taken there by heli-

copter. No details would be given to the press until after the Soviet captain 'was returned to his ship. Official Swedish sources said ‘‘the step forward" had been taken on Sunday evening (local time) after a new meeting between the Swedish Foreign Minister (Mr Ola Ullsten) and the Soviet Ambassador in Stockholm (Mr Mikhail Jakovlev).

No details were given of the talks. But sources said they were sought by Mr Jakovlev who indicated that, he had a new message from Moscow as a follow-up to the official Soviet "repeats" which he' delivered to the Foreign Ministry on Friday. Immediately after the Ullsten-Jakovlev meeting, the Soviet Ambassador alerted the two diplomats sent to Karlskrona. including the naval attache. Captain Yuri Prosvirnin.

The diplomats asked to talk to the submarine commander. Since the Swedes have invoked security considerations to deny them access

to the base, the conversation was held over a special radio-telephone link set up by the Swedish Navy. Observers said the’Swedish solution-in-sight statement indicated that the Soviet diplomats had prepared the submarine captain for orders he would receive by radio, either from his Kaliningrad naval base or from the Defence Ministry in Moscow. The Sqyiet diplomats have maintained that they are not competent to give orders to the captain. The captain has insisted that he will obey only orders issued by his direct superiors. The Swedish Defence Minister (Mr Torsten Gustafsson) yesterday ruled out any use of force to make the submarine captain co-operate with local military authorities. In a. television interview, he also rejected issuing an Ultimatum. Such a move would be pointless, since the crew members enjoyed immunity as long as they remained aboard the vessel, he said.