The government already warned earlier this year that Sweden and Swedish interests are the target of foreign influence campaigns, and then pointed out that the Koran burnings were a contributing cause.
Carl-Oscar Bohlin (M), the minister for civil defence, is now pointing out Russian-backed actors as driving several of the influence campaigns.
– They take events that occur in Sweden, and amplify them and distort them. They are reproduced in a completely or partially incorrect way in order to spread different narratives about Sweden that aim to harm Sweden.
Russian actors spread Kristersson clips
The so-called LVU campaign, where the Swedish social services were accused of kidnapping Muslim children, is one such example. The spread of a mistranslated clip from Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson’s question session in Gothenburg recently is another, according to the minister.
– Influencers started spreading misquotes and pure distortions of what had been said. Of course with the aim of harming Sweden, Swedish security policy interests and to fuel polarization in Swedish society. And here, too, we could see how Russian-backed actors participated in this campaign, says Carl-Oscar Bohlin i Foreign Office.
The NATO process in the center
Recently, Ukraine’s anti-disinformation authority warned the Swedish population that Sweden is under an information attack from Russia.
Carl-Oscar Bohlin (M) sees no signs that the disinformation about Sweden will abate.
– It has intensified after Sweden started its NATO accession process.
Throughout history, Sweden and Russia have had a turbulent relationship, but it is only in modern times that disinformation has become interesting to use against Sweden, according to historian Dick Harrison.
– Now we have ended up at the front and will join NATO. Then the scenario from the Russian horizon changes completely, he says in the Foreign Office.