According to research by several media outlets, Russian intelligence services are infiltrating or staging demonstrations in major Western cities for propaganda purposes. This is intended to create a mood against Ukraine or make Sweden's accession to NATO more difficult, reports the "Süddeutsche Zeitung". The joint research by "SZ", NDR, WDR, "Le Monde" (France), "Expressen" (Sweden) and the Scandinavian broadcasters DR (Denmark), NRK (Norway) and SVT (Sweden) is based on leaked documents that are said to come from the Kremlin's security apparatus.
According to the report, small, ordered groups in a major European city, for example, simulate 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 create the impression of a broad anti-Islamic mood in Europe.
One example is a demonstration by alleged members of a Ukrainian community in Paris at the beginning of March, who demonstrated against Turkish President Erdogan with a Hitler salute and balaclava and mocked the victims of the devastating earthquake of February 6. According to the Süddeutsche Zeitung, the Kremlin did not comment on the allegations when asked.
According to the research, provocateurs have also apparently infiltrated demonstrations in several cities on other issues, such as the care crisis, pension reform or climate, with propaganda directed against support for Ukraine. At these appearances in Paris, The Hague, Brussels or Madrid, partly identical posters were used by the same people. Photos of it appeared on the Internet and suggested the impression of a broad mood against Ukraine. The distribution of the material produced in this way on Facebook, Tiktok, Telegram or Youtube was mainly controlled by three accounts from St. Petersburg.