STOCKHOLM, April  19, 2023 (BSS/AFP) - A documentary aired by Nordic public
broadcasters Wednesday claimed Russia is suspected of having a spy programme in
the North Sea planning the sabotage of energy infrastructures in Northern
Europe.

The Kremlin on Wednesday dismissed the media claims as a "mistake" and
"without basis", reiterating its appeal for "a transparent and impartial
international inquiry" into the sabotage of the Baltic Sea Nord Stream gas
pipelines in September 2022.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson meanwhile deemed the documentary's
claims "serious".

"This just goes to show that we have a very risky situation in our
immediate vicinity," he told reporters at a navy base in southern Sweden.

A joint investigation conducted by public television stations NRK in
Norway, DR in Denmark, SVT in Sweden and YLE in Finland claimed Moscow is using
dozens of military and civilian vessels to collect information on wind farms
and communication cables.

The report cited intelligence officials in the Nordic countries.
According to DR, the Russian spy programme is known by the acronym GUGI, or
the Main Directorate of Deep-Sea Research, a top secret branch of the Russian
navy.

The organisation, which reports to Russia's defence ministry, operates out
of a base about which little is known in the Barents Sea, on the Kola peninsula
in the Arctic.

- Masked and armed -

One ship documented was the Admiral Vladimirsky, officially an
oceanographic research vessel, that was observed sailing near large offshore
windfarm parks off Britain and Denmark at the end of 2022.

When a DR team approached the vessel in a dinghy, masked and heavily-armed
men appeared on deck, an excerpt published by the Danish broadcaster showed.

Russian intelligence is also accused of using fishing trawlers, cargo ships
and even yachts kitted out with underwater and radio surveillance technology,
the investigation claimed.

The documentary, titled "The Shadow War", says Norwegian police who boarded
two Russian fishing trawlers discovered old Soviet-era radios, with an operator
in a locked compartment.

In Sweden, 27 suspect vessels have allegedly sailed through its waters or
docked in its ports in the past five years, SVT said.

In Norway, over a period of 10 years, at least 50 Russian vessels "had the
possibility to collect information clandestinely", according to a tally based
on the ships' Automatic Identification System (AIS), NRK said.

Segments of the documentary have already been released, with the full
report due to be broadcast late Wednesday.

It elicited an immediate response from Moscow, which has blamed the West
for the spectacular sabotage involving the explosions of Nord Stream pipelines
linking Russia to Germany.

"The media in these countries have made a mistake in their investigation,"
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

"They prefer to once again accuse Russia without basis."

"We would prefer that they focus more attention on the attacks against Nord
Stream and on a transparent and impartial international inquiry," he said.