Russia using Paludan to sow discontent

Based on Danish-Swedish Rasmus Paludan’s Koran burnings in Sweden, Russia has made plans for an influence campaign in European cities, according to DR* after coming into possession of documents, seemingly from a Russian intelligence service. Several European intelligence services are said to have reviewed the documents for DR and assess that they look authentic.
   According to DR, the documents show that Russia’s campaign has been carried out in at least one case – a street action in Paris in March. Here, fake protesters set fire to the Turkish flag, spray-painted messages critical of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at bus stops and staged a protest in the center of the French capital. Subsequently, videos and pictures were spread on social media. Here, the action was referred to as a popular protest, according to DR.
   According to the documents, the purpose of the action was to sow discord between EU countries and Erdogan over Sweden’s accession to NATO. One of the documents is a project description, describing plans for a campaign aimed at President Erdogan. It mentions a Koran burning carried out by Rasmus Paludan in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm on January 21.
 According to DR, the document is an expression of “a clear increase in Islamophobic attitudes across Europe”. On the basis of the burning of the Koran in Stockholm, the Russian intelligence service proposes that false actions be held in cities such as The Hague, Brussels and Paris. The actions were to be recorded and subsequently spread on social media, according to DR. (*DR = The Danish Broadcasting Corporation) /ritzau/