Swedes question captain as tugs refloat submarine

Press, 4 November 1981, Page 8

Swedes question captain as tugs refloat submarine

NZPA-Reuter Stockholm A Soviet submarine captain was back aboard his craft yesterday after a sixhour grilling from Swedish naval experts trying to find out why he was in a restricted military . zone in Swedish waters.

Sweden was awaiting a report on the activities of the vessel which sailed into the zone last Tuesday, ran aground, and then was hauled off rocks and mud by Swedish tugs yesterday. The Commander-in-Chief of the Swedish Armed Forces (General Lennart Ljung) said a report on the submarine might be ready later today. He said on television yesterday that an inquiry into the incident was continuing and that the investigations had not been completed. “We want to know what he ~was doing there,” General Ljung said.

The general’s comments followed a day of dramatic activity which saw Moscow’s agreeing to the questioning of the Soviet captain, Lieu-tenant-Commander Pyotr Gushin, his departure from the submarine for interrogation, and. the vessel’s rescue from the grip of a storm. After the crew sent a distress signal, two Swedish tugs working in near galeforce winds towed the submarine 137 away from where it had been pinned. The 56-man crew signalled for aid on international frequencies and fired distress flares while Commander

Gushin was being interrogated aboard a Swedish torpedo boat outside the zone where the vessel ran aground.

Defence Staff observers said strong winds and rough seas had tilted the submarine sharply on to its port (left) side.

“There was a great danger that the vessel’s batteries would leak and that highly poisonous chlorine gas would form from acid spilling from the Wet-cells on to metal surfaces,” one observer said.

The submarine was berthed in safer and deeper waters further inland which were sealed off by a cordon of Swedish Navy and Coast Guard vessels.

Moscow agreed earlier yesterday that Commander Gushin could be questioned by navy experts who were dissatisfied. with his earlier explanation that the submarine’s navigational system failed. The Soviet Ambassador to Sweden (Mr Mikhail Jakovlev) called on the Swedish Foreign Minister (Mr Ola Ullsten) and told him of the decision.

Two Soviet diplomats, who were in Karlskrona but were prohibited from entering the zone around the submarine, later contacted the vessel by radio.

No details of the contact were disclosed by the Swedish defence staff, who have been monitoring radio traffic to and from the submarine. The zone, bathed in the

glare of strong arc-lamps, has been sealed off. by a cordon of Swedish Navy, vessels and military forces since Friday., Commander Gushin had refused to leave ’ his command until ordered to do so by his superiors. The two Soviet diplomats were also present at his interrogation. Commander Gushin had insisted that Soviet diplomats be present at any questioning. Mr Ullsten told . a news conference he was satisfied with the way the inquiry was proceeding. “I am positively surprised at the speed of the Soviets’ expression of regret,” he said.

“We are not negotiating with the Government of the Soviet Union. It is we who have set the conditions. These have now been fulfilled.”

Mr Ullsten said it was up to the Swedish Government to decide if it was satisfied with the results of the inquiry or whether the authorities would have to investigate more deeply.

He said Swedish naval experts would have access to the vessel’s naval charts and equipment if they boarded the submarine during, the investigation.

A Soviet naval force continued to stand by in international waters to help the submarine. Sweden has refused Soviet help in rescuing the craft while it remains in the zone.