Reports: Russian secret services are staging demos in Western cities

Russian secret services are infiltrating or staging demonstrations in major Western cities for propaganda purposes, according to reports by several European media outlets.

German paper Süddeutsche Zeitung reported on Sunday that the aim of the actions was to create anti-Ukraine sentiment or to make it more difficult for Sweden to join NATO.

The joint research by the Süddeutsche Zeitung, German broadcasters NDR and WDR, French paper Le Monde, Swedish paper Expressen and the Scandinavian broadcasters DR (Denmark), NRK (Norway) and SVT (Sweden) is based on leaked documents that are said to have come from the Kremlin's security apparatus.

According to the reports, small, ordered groups simulate anti-Turkish rallies in a major European city, for example, posing as Ukrainians and agitating against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in order to produce online propaganda material. This is apparently intended to create 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 Erdoğan with a Hitler salute and balaclava and also mocked the victims of the devastating earthquake on February 6. According to the Süddeutsche Zeitung, the Kremlin did not comment on the accusations when asked.

According to the research, provocateurs also apparently infiltrated demonstrations in several cities on other topics, such as the nursing shortage, pension reform and climate change, with propaganda directed against support for Ukraine.

At these appearances in Paris, The Hague, Brussels and Madrid, partly identical posters were used by the same people, the Süddeutsche Zeitung reported. Photos of them had appeared on the internet and had suggested the impression of a broad sentiment 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.