According to research by several media outlets, Russian secret services are infiltrating or staging demonstrations in major western cities for propaganda purposes. The “Süddeutsche Zeitung” reported on Sunday that this was intended to create sentiment against Ukraine or to make Sweden’s NATO accession more difficult. The joint research by “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, NDR, WDR, Le Monde (France), Expressen (Sweden) and the Scandinavian broadcasters DR (Denmark), NRK (Norway) and SVT (Sweden) are based on leaked documents from the security apparatus of the Kremlin.
Accordingly, small, organized groups in a European city simulate, for example, anti-Turkish rallies, pretending to be Ukrainians and agitating against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in order to generate propaganda material for Internet platforms. This is apparently intended to give the impression of a broad anti-Islamic mood in Europe.
Examples include a demonstration by alleged members of a Ukrainian community in Paris at the beginning of March, who demonstrated against Turkish President Erdogan with a Nazi salute and balaclava and at the same time mocked the victims of the devastating earthquake of February 6th. According to the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, the Kremlin did not comment on the allegations when asked.
According to the research, provocateurs have apparently infiltrated demonstrations in several cities on other issues, such as the nursing shortage, pension reform or climate, with propaganda directed against support for Ukraine. The Süddeutsche Zeitung writes that at these appearances in Paris, The Hague, Brussels and Madrid, some identical posters were used by the same people. Photos of it have appeared on the Internet and have suggested the impression of a broad anti-Ukraine sentiment. The distribution of the material produced in this way on Facebook, Tiktok, Telegram or YouTube was mainly controlled by three accounts from Saint Petersburg.
