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full screen Flight radar map published by 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.
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The Kremlin-loyal Telegram channel Mash, one of the most popular Russian news sites with over three million readers, 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.
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full screen Russian airport Olenja on the Kola Peninsula, just north of Olenogorsk. Photo: Wikipedia
“NATO aid”
Half an hour later added Murmansk Region Governor Andrei Tjibis on his Telegram channel issued a comment on the incident, in which he confirmed 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.
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fullscreen 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 strike. 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.
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full screen 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 mark”
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 can’t say anything at all about this, Peskov said according to Gazeta newspaper.
Aftonbladet seeks the Swedish Armed Forces for a comment.
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full screen Image of a Swedish reconnaissance plane of the type S102B, published by the pro-Kremlin news site Mash. Photo: Telegram