Was Russia behind the Quran burning in Stockholm? Anton Shekhovtsov reports

On the 21st of January 2023, the Danish-Swedish leader of a fringe far-right party Rasmus Paludan burnt a copy of the Quran in front of the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm. Turkey, which had been considering Sweden’s application for NATO membership, said that it would not discuss the application any further. A number of media reports suggested a Kremlin involvement in the incident, referring to the Russian links of one of the organisers of the demonstration in Stockholm. Dr. Anton Shekhovtsov, the director of the Centre for Democratic Integrity, looked into the case and reports on his findings. If you liked the report, please consider donating to the Centre for Democratic Integrity to support our research: 00:00 Introduction 01:37 What happened in Stockholm? 02:30 Sweden’s non-aligned status 09:00 Russian political warfare against Sweden 11:31 Russia’s full-blown invasion of Ukraine drives support for Sweden’s NATO membership 13:22 The Swedish far right and their attitudes towards Russia 19:15 Swedish centre left and populist right change their stances on NATO 20:00 Almost no reactions from Moscow to Sweden’s NATO membership bid 22:34 Recep Erdoğan blocks Sweden’s NATO membership 25:43 Turkey’s demands from Sweden 27:05 Turkey’s and NATO’s definitions of terrorism overlap but do not coincide 29:00 Swedish government displays servility when dealing Erdoğan’s demands 32:34 Swedes from right to left protest against Erdoğan’s attempts to undermine Swedish values 34:41 Chang Frick contributes to the protests 36:00 Enter Rasmus Paludan 38:16 Erdoğan’s regime reacts to Swedish protests 39:26 The Russian connection 47:19 What made Chang Frick to change his attitudes towards Russia? 51:46 The technology of Russian influence operations 55:17 What should we be concerned about?