Russia planned to organize operations to prevent Finland and Sweden from joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. For this purpose, Moscow prepared a campaign inciting demonstrations and other actions in these countries.
Russia planned to prevent Finland and Sweden from joining NATO
Journalists have obtained a secret intelligence report which describes the plans of the Russian special services to organize campaigns of harassment under the pretext of demonstrations before the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO.
The plan is revealed in a memo prepared by a Russian intelligence officer, which was initially handed over to the Dossier investigative journalism center, the publication said.
As noted in the plans, the violent demonstrations that followed the burning of the Koran in Sweden increased the fear of Islam in the countries of the European Union. The document refers to an order to improve such tension further.
In this way, the special services of the Russian Federation intended to increase "friction" between Turkey, European countries, and NATO.
The law enforcement officers confirmed that they knew about the plans of the Russian special service to incite demonstrations in Finland as well.
It is worth noting that in the documents obtained by Yle journalists, there are no signs that Russia implemented such plans in Finland.
The Russian special services' plan enumerates methods for organizing persecution campaigns. Among them, in particular:
Planned demonstrations in major European cities mocking Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan;
one approach is to apply the maximum amount of anti-Islam and anti-Erdogan graffiti in prominent places in the EU;
widespread distribution of footage of demonstrations on social networks;
conducting planned protests, which is indicated in the published materials of Russian intelligence.
In addition to the document on the plans, the journalists received a report on the operation. It accurately documents the Russian harassment campaign in central Paris in March 2023. At that time, demonstrations against Islam and Turkey were organized in the city.
Information about Russia's plans poured into the "Dossier" Center for Journalistic Investigations in portions at the end of last year and in the spring of 2023.
Accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO
In May 2022, Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO. Finland became the 31st member of NATO in April 2023. Sweden's entry is delayed due to the position of Turkey and Hungary, although Stockholm previously planned to join the North Atlantic Alliance with Finland.
Budapest declared it would not interfere with Sweden as soon as Ankara dared to sign the ratification. At the same time, Turkey claims that Stockholm should take more steps to "suppress" the Kurdistan Workers' Party, which the European Union and the United States also consider a terrorist group. However, Sweden claimed they had already done everything necessary to join NATO.
On October 23, Turkish President Erdogan signed the protocol on Sweden's accession to NATO for consideration in the Turkish parliament. According to the media, Turkey's ruling party may postpone the vote on Sweden's accession to NATO until the end of the year.
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