Moscow rejects protest

Press, 13 November 1981, Page 6

Moscow rejects protest

NZPA-Reuter Moscow “The Soviet Government rejected bluntly yesterday Sweden’s, protest against the intrusion of a Soviet submarine into its territorial waters and accused Stockholm of distorting the truth. A statement handed to the Swedish Ambassdor (Mr Carl de Geer) at the Soviet Foreign Ministry complained of the way the vessel was treated and said Sweden’s allegations about its activities were absurd, said the official news agency, Tass. Sweden said it believed submarine 137 was spying when it ran aground near a naval base late last month) The submarine was released on Friday after being held for 11 days and Stockholm sent a toughly-worded protest note to the Soviet Embassy. “The Soviet Government resolutely rejects the' protest contained in the Swedish Government’s statement as devoid of any legal and factual grounds,” the Soviet Government said. Moscow has said the submarine’s navigational equipment broke down and that it wandered into Swedish waters by mistake. “The Soviet side, taking into consideration the breakdown character of the incident, could rightly expect at least a manifestation of correct attitude and an objective appraisal of what happened. “Instead the Swedish Government took the path of distorting the facts,” the Kremlin said. Swedish allegations about the activities of the submarine had “aroused bewilderment,” in Moscow. The Soviet statement went on to argue that the vessel had been running on the surface with its lights on when it became grounded. Thus no “sober-minded person,” could allege that it was on a clandestine mission. Sweden’s charges in that respect were “absurd.” . The statement made no reply to the second main Swedish allegations—that the submarine carried nuclear warheads. ■