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TRUMP DOSSIER

Putin accused of driving a wedge between Sweden and Nato

Tom Parfitt, Moscow
The Times
There have been false reports that Stockholm was planning to export an artillery system to Ukraine and that Sweden and Nato were conspiring to relay weapons to Isis via Turkey
There have been false reports that Stockholm was planning to export an artillery system to Ukraine and that Sweden and Nato were conspiring to relay weapons to Isis via Turkey
INTS KALNINS /REUTERS
Tom Parfitt, Moscow
The Times

Russia is using forgeries, disinformation, military threats and agents of influence to destabilise Sweden and inhibit Nato in northern Europe, according to a leading think tank in the region.

The Kremlin has increased “active measures” against the Scandinavian nation since President Putin annexed the Crimean peninsula in 2014, Martin Kragh and Sebastian Asberg of the Swedish Institute of International Affairs say in a report.

One of the aims was to discourage co-operation between Sweden, which is non-aligned in terms of foreign policy, and Nato, minimising the role of the military bloc in the wider Baltic region, they conclude.

Russian politicians and diplomats have “proactively intervened in Sweden’s domestic political affairs” and “troll armies” have targeted journalists and academics online, they wrote.

The study highlighted the