Reports of a potential “Russian” submarine found near England and Sweden have once again become common, and now the United States is being asked by Great Britain to help in the search for this mysterious underwater object.
In a related report by the Inquisitr, Vladimir Putin recently signed and enacted a new military doctrine which proposes that Russian nuclear weapons defense systems near Europe will be expanded based upon joint defense projects with China, India, and other countries. Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev also warns that the Ukraine crisis may transform into World War 3, claiming that a nuclear war between Russia and U.S. is possible. In addition, the U.S.–China Economic and Security Review Commission believes that China’s nuclear weapons upgrade is capable of “putting the entire U.S. at risk.”
During October, Sweden deployed its military in the search for an alleged Russian submarine. The situation quickly escalated, and NATO nations reported intercepting Russian jets near the search area. Sweden threatened to used armed force in order to raise the potential Russian submarine. But finding the unknown foreign vessel proved to be the tricky part, and although Sweden provided evidence of a small U-boat breaching Sweden’s territorial waters, Russia blamed NATO while also claiming innocence.
Over the weekend, it was revealed that late last year a member of the public also photographed what appeared to be a submarine tower about two miles away from Stockholm. The Swedish military also confirmed the validity of the alleged “Russian” submarine.
“We were informed of a sighting and considered it trustworthy — we had a unit in the area and sent it to investigate,” military spokesman Philip Simon told AFP. “We received a photograph but do not plan to release it.”
A military source also looked at the alleged “Russian” submarine photo and claimed it indicated how serious the problem was for Sweden. According to Dagens Nyheter, this information is reason enough to consider a NATO membership for Sweden.
“It looks like a black submarine tower. You can also see several other ships that normally use this shipping route,” the military source said. “You don’t go this far in towards Stockholm for the fun of it. This information points to a serious intrusion towards central Stockholm.”
The Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency reports that 73 percent of Swedes are concerned about recent developments related to Russia and Vladimir Putin. In comparison, only 45 percent were concerned a year ago. But it’s not only Swedes that are concerned.
In December, a potential Russian submarine was spotted by the British Navy where Royal Navy submarines normally surface as they head in or out of a base at Faslane, the home to Britain’s nuclear weapons deterrents and the Royal Navy’s Vanguard-class nuclear submarines. NATO was asked for help in the sub search because the British Ministry of Defense had scrapped its own anti-submarine Nimrod spy planes program back in 2010.
Now the Telegraph is reporting that visits from Russian submarines have been “happening quite often” off the coast of Scotland. The Ministry of Defense requested support from the U.S. Navy and two Navy aircraft were sent to conduct anti-submarine patrols.
“We can confirm that the UK recently requested assistance from allied forces for basing of maritime patrol aircraft at RAF Lossiemouth for a limited period. The aircraft have been conducting maritime patrol activity with the Royal Navy; we do not discuss the detail of maritime operations.”
The search for the potential Russian submarine has been compared to the first Cold War, when the Soviet Union commonly sent Soviet submarines into European waters.
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