Russia is carrying out an influence operation with the aim of discouraging Turkey with the EU and Ukraine
An investigation by a group of European publications established that Russia is trying to carry out an influence operation in European countries with the aim of complicating relations between Turkey and the EU, as well as weakening support for Ukraine.
This is stated in the material of the Swedish Expressen, which participated in the project alongside DR, Le Monde, Süddeutsche Zeitung, NRK, SVT, Delfi, WDR/NRD and the “Dossier” center.
The documents obtained by the journalists show that the Russian special services actively took up the topic after the anti-Turkish protests in Sweden and Denmark against the background of Ankara’s blocking of these countries’ entry into NATO. Moscow saw this as an additional opportunity to make allies angry.
The papers were allegedly received from one of the employees of the Russian special services, whose identity is known to journalists, but it is not disclosed.
The explanation to the plan states that there is a clear tension between Turkey and the EU not only at the level of official relations, but also due to growing Islamophobic sentiments in European societies. Further, it is proposed to organize actions that would further aggravate the situation – for example, burning the Turkish flag and portraits of Erdogan in The Hague, a large campaign with offensive graffiti against Erdogan in major European cities.
The material provides a brief description of the proposed action: “Five people (locals and immigrants) wearing masks stand on the Turkish flag and burn Erdogan’s portrait; one of them films it on his phone; the place is one of the recognizable places of The Hague; the video is sent to Turkish mass media and organizations, published on social networks, etc.”
It follows from the documents that some such staging actions were organized with hired “protesters”, and in some cases they were used against Ukraine.
Thus, in one of the papers it is indicated that the March 5 demonstration in Paris was staged. Allegedly, “representatives of the Ukrainian community” – several people – unfurled a small anti-Turkish banner and shouted at the camera “stop Erdogan.” The video then appeared on Facebook and YouTube. According to the document, the purpose of this provocation was to “show the ingratitude” of Ukrainians and alleged indifference to the catastrophic earthquakes in Turkey, “to emphasize the destructive nature of pro-Ukrainian activists and Ukrainian society under Zelenskyі’s rule in general.”
After carefully researching materials from the action and social networks, Danmarks Radio and Le Monde journalists found out that the alleged “representative of the Ukrainian community” at the March 5 action in Paris had previously appeared at other actions, but then with anti-Ukrainian slogans. So, on February 11, he was spotted at actions against the pension reform with a poster against Ukraine, NATO and the USA.
Journalists also noticed that three of the same people periodically appeared at actions unrelated to Ukraine with posters saying “NATO, stop bombing Donetsk” and “Don’t give weapons to Ukraine” and published this content on social networks.
The Dossier Center established that the owner of the most active such profile belongs to an Algerian who studied in St. Petersburg. At the end of December 2022, before the start of the influence operation, he joined several French groups on Facebook and offered part-time work there – 80-100 euros per photo. When contacted, he said his account had been hacked. Shortly thereafter, this and several other accounts involved in the distribution of content from the promotions were deleted.
Journalists identified several other people who were spotted at the actions, but none wanted to comment on how they decided to participate or whether they were paid for it.
Danish-Swedish activist Rasmus Paludan – the main initiator of the Koran-burning actions – told DR that he was not influenced in any way by Russia and Kremlin agents did not incite him to take any actions.
It has been unofficially confirmed that several Western special services are aware of this Russian plan. The Swedish security police, Säpo, declined to comment in detail on what they knew, but noted that Russian influence campaigns often try to exploit certain divisions in society for their own purposes.