STOCKHOLM — Sweden is the target of a disinformation campaign by “Russia-backed actors” intended to hurt the image of the NATO-candidate country by implying it supported recent burnings of the Koran, its Minister for Civil Defense said on Wednesday.

Sweden’s bid to join NATO after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has put it in the international spotlight, while a number of demonstrations at which protesters have burned copies of the Muslim holy book have angered Muslims around the world.

“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 how Russia-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,” Mr. 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.

Swedish Premier Ulf Kristersson also commented on the topic in a post, saying he wanted to correct a common misunderstanding.

“The Swedish state does not issue permissions to burn copies of the Koran. However, the police issue permits for public gatherings — a right that is enshrined in Sweden’s constitution,” Mr. Kristersson wrote on Facebook.

He said Sweden had no tradition of burning books just because it was legal.

“The state guarantees the right to freedom of expression, but does not thereby stand behind any political messages,” he wrote.

Mikael Ostlund, a spokesman for Sweden’s Psychological Defence Agency, said Russia was using the Koran burnings as opportunities to promote its agenda in the media.

“Obviously, one such ambition from Russia’s side is to be able to complicate our joining NATO.”

FREEDOM OF SPEECH
Copies of the Koran have been burned at several demonstrations in Sweden and Denmark this summer, causing outrage among Muslims and prompting protesters to storm and vandalize the Swedish embassy in Baghdad.

Denmark and Sweden have said they deplore the burning of the Koran but cannot prevent it under rules protecting free speech.

Turkey, which holds a veto over Swedish NATO membership, has condemned the protests and called on Stockholm to take action against the perpetrators.

Earlier on Wednesday, Sweden’s security service, SAPO, warned that Sweden’s security situation had worsened as a result of the recent controversy over freedom of speech. “The image of Sweden has changed. We have gone from being seen as a tolerant country to being a land that is anti-Muslim — that’s how we are seen … mainly the Muslim parts of the world,” Susanna Trehorning, a senior official at SAPO, told Swedish state broadcaster SVT.

Sweden’s security-alert level has not been changed, however, and is currently at 3 on a scale of 5, indicating “heightened risk”. Five is the highest level of threat. — Reuters

SEOUL — Russia’s defence minister accompanied North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to a defense exhibition that featured the North’s banned ballistic missiles as the neighbors pledged to boost ties, North Korean state media reported on Thursday.

The Russian minister, Sergei Shoigu, and a Chinese delegation including a Politburo member arrived in North Korea this week for the 70^th anniversary of the end of the Korean War celebrated in North Korea as “Victory Day.”

The missiles were banned under U.N. Security Council resolutions adopted with Russian and Chinese support but this week they provided a striking backdrop for a show of solidarity by three countries united by their rivalry with the US

Mr. Shoigu is making the first visit by a Russian defense minister to North Korea since the fall of the Soviet Union.

For North Korea, the arrival of the Russian and Chinese delegations marks its first major opening up to the world since the coronavirus pandemic.

Mr. Shoigu gave Mr. Kim a letter from Russian President Vladimir Putin, North Korean media reported.

Mr. Kim thanked Mr. Putin for sending the military delegation led by Mr. Shoigu, saying the visit had deepened the “strategic and traditional” relations between North Korea and Russia. “(Kim) expressed his views on the issues of mutual concern in the struggle to safeguard the sovereignty, development and interests of the two countries from the high-handed and arbitrary practices of the imperialists and to realize international justice and peace,” North Korean media said.

“He repeatedly expressed belief that the Russian army and people would achieve big successes in the struggle for building a powerful country,” it said.

KCNA did not refer to the war in Ukraine but North Korea’s defense minister, Kang Sun Nam, was reported as saying North Korea fully supported Russia’s “battle for justice” and to protect its sovereignty.

Mr. Kim led Mr. Shoigu on a tour of an exhibition of new weapons and military equipment, KCNA said.

State media photographs showed Mr. Kim and his guests at a display of some of the North’s ballistic missiles in multi-axle transporter launchers. Another image showed what analysts said appeared to be a new drone.

One analyst said Mr. Shoigu’s inspection of the North Korean missiles visit suggested Russian acceptance of North Korea’s nuclear program.

“We’ve come a long way from when North Korea would avoid showing off its nuclear capabilities when senior foreign dignitaries from Russia and China were in town,” said Ankit Panda of the US-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, calling the tour “remarkable”.

“The personal tour for Shoigu  — and Shoigu’s willingness to be photographed with Kim in the course of this tour — is evidence that Moscow is complacent with North Korea’s ongoing nuclear modernization,” he said.

Kim also met Chinese Communist Party Politburo member Li Hongzhong for talks and was handed a letter from Chinese President Xi Jinping, North Korean media reported.

The visit by Li’s delegation showed Mr. Xi’s commitment to “attach great importance to the DPRK-China friendship,” Kim was quoted as saying by the North’s KCNA state news agency, referring to the North the initial of its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

‘NO SECRET’
The Russian visit raises the prospect of more open support for North Korea, especially with Russia isolated by the West over is invasion of Ukraine, analysts said.

“While Russia has kept its official military cooperation with the North Korea limited, any veritable rupture in the so-called post-Cold War order may see Russia more willing to openly violate sanctions, especially given their relatively lax attitude to the shifts in North Korea’s nuclear status last year,” said Anthony Rinna, a specialist in Korea-Russia relations at the Sino-NK think tank.

Last year, North Korea codified a new, expansive nuclear law declaring its status as a nuclear-armed state “irreversible”.

This month, it threatened nuclear retaliation over a show of force by the United States, saying the deployment of strategic military assets near the Korean peninsula could meet criteria for its use of nuclear weapons.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Russia’s overtures to North Korea comes as the Kremlin struggles to procure arms.

“It’s been no secret … Mr Putin is reaching out to other countries for help and support in fighting his war in Ukraine. And that includes, we know, some outreach to the DPRK,” he said.

North Korea has backed the Kremlin over its war with Ukraine and has shipped weapons including infantry rockets and missiles in support of Russia’s war, the White House has said.

North Korea and Russia deny they have conducted arms transactions. — Reuters