Documents / FOIA release
This Central Intelligence Agency JPRS translation, dated 29 January 1992, reproduces an IZVESTIYA article by Marat Zubko about Soviet submarine U-137, which ran aground near the Karlskrona naval base in Sweden on 27 October 1981. It reports former commander Anatoliy Gushchin's claims that the submarine carried nuclear weapons and that he had orders to blow it up. It also quotes Swedish commander Karl Andersson likening claims of submarine incursions to flying saucers. Captain 1st Rank Vladimir Vazhov disputes the order claim and describes two Soviet minisubmarines.
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# Concatenated JPRS Reports, 1992 Document 3 of 12 Page 3 outfitted with then. They recalled for the purposes of comparison that a 13 kiloton bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. And how many total warheads were there aboard the submarine, armed with four torpedoes? There is no answer to this question for the moment. 13. A. Gushchin said that the things he had to endure after that incident you wouldn't even wish upon an enemy. The possibility cannot be excluded that his words are ruled by bad feelings toward the fleet command. Nonetheless, in my opinion his confession should be considered in all seriousness. The Russian leadership, which has inherited the affairs of the Union administration, should conduct a special investigation of the ''Odyssey'' of the submarine U-137, and tell the truth about whether its commander really did have orders then to blow up the submarine together with not only the crew but the nuclear warheads as well. 14. And what is most important, if such an order existed then, does it still stand today? What would happen if another submarine armed with nuclear torpedoes of a higher yield finds itself in a similar situation? 15. It should also be considered that the Swedish side is also searching increasingly more actively for the truth in this matter. According to assertions in the local press the subject of violations of Sweden's territorial waters by foreign submarines was discussed in a meeting between Prime Minister Karl Bildt [transliteration] and Russian First Vice Premier Gennadiy Burbulis, who was in Stockholm last week. 16. And in the near future a group of Swedish experts will depart for Moscow for talks with Russian authorities; they will also ask questions about the involvement of the navy of the former USSR in invasions of Swedish skerries in the 1980's. According to Stockholm newspapers the group will include Karl Bildt's personal advisors. Time itself will shed light on this affair for the Russian leadership. 17. Another voice also deserving of attention made itself heard simultaneously with Anatoliy Gushchin. A statement was made to the press by Commander Karl Andersson-the same person who negotiated with the crew of the U-137 in behalf of the Swedish Coast Guard, and who was mentioned in the article "'The Order Was to Blow Up the Submarine Together With the Crew." 18. After that incident with the U-137, he was virtually turned into a Swedish national hero. He became a unique symbol of the nation's struggle for the inviolability of the country's territorial waters. His appointments to the posts of chief of the naval school and
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FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 7 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.