SWEDISH officials are pointing fingers at Russia as the mastermind behind a disinformation campaign concerning the Quran-burning crisis.
In a recent press briefing concerning the recent influence campaigns against Sweden, Civil Defence Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin said the county is a victim of a disinformation campaign backed by states and state-like actors aimed at harming its interests and its citizens.
Meanwhile, the head of communication at Sweden’s Psychological Defence Agency Mikael Östlund said his agency had recorded at least a million publications connected to the Nordic country.
Östlund has accused Russia of using propaganda channels and the media to promote its agenda, to split Sweden’s connection with the West, and to create increased anxiety and polarization here in the Nordic country.
He added that the move portrays an obvious ambition from the Russian side to make it more difficult for Sweden to join NATO.
Meanwhile, the Swedish Security Service warned that the burning of the holy book as well as the ongoing disinformation campaigns on social media and elsewhere negatively affected Sweden’s image.
It can be remembered that Finland’s Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto has also accused Russia of being involved in the Quran-burning protest by far-right politician Rasmus Paludan in January to derail Sweden’s NATO accession.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and local lawmakers on the other hand condemned the Swedish authorities for allowing a demonstration in Stockholm that involved the desecration of the holy book on the major Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.
