“Sweden is the target of a disinformation campaign supported by state and state-like actors with the aim of damaging Swedish interests and ... Swedish citizens,” the minister,Carl-Oskar Bohlin,told reporters at a press conference.
“We can see howRussia-backed actors are amplifying incorrect statements such as that the Swedish state is behind the desecration of holy scriptures,” he said.
“That is,naturally,completely false,” Bohlin said,adding that such state actors tried to “create division and weaken Sweden’s international standing”.
There was no immediate reply from the Russian embassy in Stockholm to a request for comment about the minister’s remarks.
Mikael Ostlund,a spokesman for Sweden’s Psychological Defence Agency,said:“Russia is using these opportunities to promote its agenda in the media and the message there aims,of course,at splitting us in the West and at creating increased concern and division here in Sweden.”
“Obviously,one such ambition from Russia’s side is to be able to complicate our joining NATO.”