The Russian military allegedly dumped nuclear waste into the Baltic Sea in the early 1990s, according to a report on Swedish television. Radioactive material from a military base in Latvia is thought to have been thrown into Swedish waters. For many the biggest shock is that the Swedish government may have known at the time and done nothing about it. The partly enclosed Baltic Sea is known as one of the most polluted seas in the world.
But now it seems it was also used as a dumping ground for Russian nuclear waste and chemical weapons.
According to a report on Swedish television, Russian boats sailed out at night to dump barrels of radioactive material, from a military base in Latvia, into Swedish waters. And even though the Swedish government at the time reportedly knew this, no action was taken to find the waste.
The current government in Stockholm now wants the politicians who were then in charge to explain why they did nothing to find the barrels.
The Baltic Sea is semi-enclosed, so it takes a long time to flush out toxins. This makes it particularly vulnerable to pollution. And after years of untreated waste from Russia's cities and heavy industries, scientists say that the Baltic is in danger of becoming a dead sea.
Next week high-ranking politicians from those countries bordering the Baltic, including Russia, are due to attend a summit in Helsinki to discuss how to save it.
But if reports about Soviet nuclear waste being dumped prove true, then Russia will have even more accusations of pollution to answer.
Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt has asked for an explanation from the previous Social Democrat government over Russia's release of toxic waste into Swedish waters in the Baltic Sea.
Swedish public television SVT reported on Wednesday that between 1991 and 1994 Russia dumped chemical weapons and radioactive waste off the shores of Gotland, a Swedish island in the Baltic Sea.
The network also said the Social Democrat government that came into power in 1994 was informed of the dumping by military intelligence in the late 1990s, but failed to act on the information.
The current centre-right government "didn't know" about the issue, Reinfeldt's spokeswoman Roberta Alenius told AFP.
"This is new information for the (current) government. What we are saying is that questions should be directed at the previous governments," she said.
According to SVT, the wasted dumped in Swedish waters came from the giant Karosta naval base in the Latvian port city of Liepaja.
Sven Olof Pettersson, an advisor to former foreign minister Anna Lindh, a Social Democrat, told SVT that Lindh knew about the dumping and called in vain for a public inquiry on the matter.
She was murdered by Mijailo Mijailovic, a mentally unstable man, in 2003.
Current foreign minister Carl Bildt, who was Sweden's prime minister while the dumping was taking place, said Thursday he had not been informed it was happening.
Bildt headed a centre-right government from 1991 to 1994. The Social Democrats then took over until 2006.
A summit of heads of state of countries bordering the Baltic Sea was to take place in Helsinki Wednesday to try to solve the problems of one of the world's most polluted seas.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is due to attend.
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8499762.stm
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