MOSCOW, December 25. /TASS/. The detention of the Russian ship Adler by Sweden was "unjustified and incomprehensible," and no clear answers were given, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
The diplomat said that the ship was subjected to an inspection, during which the sealed cargo was opened, but nothing suspicious was found.
"All this time, our embassy has been in close contact with the captain of the ship, with the Swedish authorities, but it has not been possible to get at least some intelligible answers from the latter. We paid special attention to the fact that Swedish customs officers tried, and I would like to emphasize right away that they were unsuccessful, but they tried to get the ship's captain to sign certain documents, after which, on December 21, Adler, this vessel, was granted permission to leave the territorial waters of Sweden unhindered," she said.
"What do I want to say at the end of this whole farce. There is a force majeure, and there is a farce majeure that was carried out by the Swedish authorities."
She said that Sweden should apologize for the incident. "They should apologize, and maybe even compensate for the damage, which was incurred. But instead, the Swedish customs and law enforcement agencies, including the security services, continued the so-called inspection. Subsequently, the Swedish Prosecutor General's Office joined the case," she added.
