🔶 Sweden says it has successfully thwarted a Russian information operation

The Swedish Security Service said it has successfully thwarted a Russian operation designed with the aim of “discrediting Sweden, NATO and the European Union.”

The organization, in a statement released on Monday, August 10, identified Russia’s foreign intelligence service as the handler of the operation and said: “One of the aims of this operation was to gather information about the decision-making process in Sweden so that, through this, Russian intelligence services could carry out influence operations in issues that are tense and polarizing, with the aim of discrediting Sweden, NATO and the European Union.”

According to the statement, the Russian operation also targeted “Sweden’s support for Ukraine and Sweden’s military capabilities.”

The Swedish Security Service said it had been collecting information about the operation for a long time, and during its investigation it found that Russian intelligence officers had managed to recruit “an individual from a foreign diplomatic delegation in Sweden.”