Russian media: Swedish plane helped in attack

 

Russia's invasion of Ukraine
Russian media: "Swedish planes involved in drone attack"

Joachim Kerpner

Updated 19.10 | Published 18.30

Air radar map published by the Russian news site Mash, with flight routes for two Swedish reconnaissance planes. Photo: Telegram

Russian media accuse Sweden of involvement in a drone attack against the Murmansk area today, Wednesday.

A Swedish reconnaissance plane is said to have guided two Ukrainian drones, according to the news site Mash.

According to the Swedish Armed Forces, it is "pure misinformation".

Quick version

• Russian media accuse Sweden of involvement in a drone attack against the Murmansk area, where two Ukrainian drones were shot down on Wednesday.
• A Swedish reconnaissance aircraft flew along the Finnish-Russian border shortly before the incident and guided the attack, according to Mash.
• After the attack, Murmansk and Apatity airports were closed to civil aviation. Vladimir Putin's press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, has commented on the incident.

The Kremlin-loyal Telegram channel Mash, one of the most popular Russian news sites with over three million subscribers, wrote on Wednesday morning that two Ukrainian drones had been shot down near the village of Vysokij on Russia's Kola Peninsula. The drones' target was probably the nearby Olenja airport, according to Mash.

Russian airport Olenja on the Kola Peninsula, just north of Olenogorsk. Photo: Wikipedia

"NATO aid"

Half an hour later, Murmansk-Region Governor Andrey Tjibis posted a comment on his Telegram channel, confirming that a Ukrainian drone attack had been repelled.

On Wednesday afternoon, Mash continued reporting on the incident. At the time, the news channel stated that the Ukrainian army, with the help of NATO, had tried to attack the Olenja airport.

 

Murmansk Region Governor Andrey Tjibis. Photo: Telegram

Displays flight radar maps

The news site claimed that aerial radar maps showed that a Swedish S102B reconnaissance plane had flown along the Finnish-Russian border shortly before the drone attack. The site also claimed that a Swedish Gulfstream Aerospace TP102C had been in the air at about the same time, but then over northern Sweden.

"After the reconnaissance flights of the NATO plane, according to preliminary information, from the airport Ivalo - from where drones can be easily masked by regular flights - two drones of the aircraft type A-22 "Flying dog" were released," writes    Mash.

Satellitbild av den ryska flygplatsen Olenja på Kola-halvön. Foto: Google Maps

Satellite image of the Russian airport Olenja on the Kola Peninsula. Photo: Google Maps

Following the attack, the Murmansk and Apatity airports were closed to civilian aircraft.

"Norwegian land"

Earlier on Wednesday, before Mash had made the claims about Swedish involvement, Vladimir Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov commented on the incident. At the time, various Russian Telegram channels claimed that the attack took place from Norwegian soil. Later it was said that the drones were sent from Finland:

- This is information that is rather with our military and our special authorities. I cannot say anything at all about this, Peskov said, according to Gazeta newspaper.

Linus Ehn, duty communicator at the Swedish Armed Forces, says:

- This is not true. It can be regarded as pure misinformation.

Image of Swedish reconnaissance plane of the type S102B, published by the Kremlin-friendly news site Mash. Photo: Telegram