Russia denies submarine incident

19 October 2014 Last updated at 15:18 The Swedish navy said it launched a search after receiving “credible information”

The Russian defence ministry has denied reports that one of its submarines got into trouble in the waters off Sweden.

The Swedish military has been searching the sea since Friday, following what the military said was foreign underwater activity.

It has denied looking for a submarine, and said that it was conducting an intelligence operation.

However, a local newspaper said Sweden had intercepted a distress signal in Russian.

Soviet submarine sightings during the Cold War caused security alerts in Sweden in the 1980s.

Swedish corvette HMS Visby searches the Stockholm archipelago Russian President Vladimir Putin (second from left) watches a nuclear submarine at Severomorsk, on the Kola Peninsula, this summer

Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine this year has fuelled suspicion about its intentions towards other neighbouring states, notably in the Baltic.

It has several submarines based in Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave bordered by Poland and Lithuania and facing out to Sweden, as well as a much bigger force near Murmansk on the Kola Peninsula.

Last month, another Swedish newspaper, Expressen, reported an incursion by two Russian SU-24 fighter bombers into national airspace. Sweden scrambled jets to see them off, it said.

A defence ministry spokesman in Moscow told reporters that the Russian navy’s submarines and surface ships were “performing tasks… according to plan”.

“There has been no irregular situation, let alone emergency situation, involving Russian navy vessels,” he said.

Sources told Svenska Dagbladet newspaper that Sweden had begun a search after a radio transmission in Russian was detected on an emergency frequency on Thursday evening.

Encrypted radio traffic from a point in the Stockholm archipelago and Kaliningrad was later also picked up.

A corvette equipped with anti-submarine technology, the Visby, joined other vessels, as well as helicopters and amphibious troops, in scanning the search area.

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Russia denies submarine incident

Website claims ...Management team unaware of incident

Chad Bryan, Staff Reporter

News reports out of Zimbabwe say dancehall artiste Kalado got a rude awakening during his debut tour of the African nation when several missiles were flung from all directions during his set last Saturday at the Old Hararians Sports Club.

Despite his songs receiving airplay on stations in that country and on the clubbing scene, his performance was lacklustre, reports www.newsday.co.zw.

In addition, the news website reports that the artiste’s performance was reduced to some pornographic show when he got up close and personal with local female dancers one after the other.

The website also claims that the artiste believes that patrons hurling missiles in his direction was an appreciation of his performance quoting him as being impressed by the crowd.

“It was my first time performing in Zimbabwe and I was impressed by the crowd. On the cans, I thought it was a form of appreciation since I don’t understand the Zimbabwean language,” Kalado said.

NewsDay continued that the artiste was not affected by the behaviour of Zimbabwean fans and if invited again he would return for a second show.

A disc jockey rushing to Kalado’s defence says the Zimbabweans should be patient with foreign acts. He also said that while dancing with the girls would have been acceptable elsewhere, the environment in Zimbabwe would not have called for that kind of behaviour.

Publicist for the artiste, Ray Alexander, when contacted, said the artiste being bottled was news to him. He therefore could not deny or confirm that he had been bottled.

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Website claims ...Management team unaware of incident