'Pro-Putin journalist' paid for Quran-burning stunt in Sweden

Source: The Times

‘Pro-Putin journalist’ paid for Quran-burning stunt in Sweden

Tom Parfitt
Friday January 27 2023, 10.40am GMT, The Times

A Quran-burning stunt which could jeopardise Sweden’s attempt to join Nato was organised by a far-right journalist with links to a Kremlin-backed television channel, it has emerged.

Chang Frick paid 320 Swedish krona (£25) for a permit to hold the demonstration near Turkey’s embassy in Stockholm, according to local media. Frick, a former contributor to Russia Today, owns a ring-wing populist website and is a presenter on the television channel of the Sweden Democrats, a nationalist political party.

Swedish television reported that Frick had asked a nationalist website “to put him in touch with someone who could burn the Quran”.

Frick, 39, has been pictured on social media wearing a T-shirt with an image of Vladimir Putin. There are suspicions that he may have organised the stunt on Saturday at the behest of the Kremlin. Moscow denies involvement.

The protest in front of the embassy was carried out by Rasmus Paludan, a right-wing Swedish-Danish politician and anti-Islam extremist.

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Read more: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/pro-putin-journalist-paid-for-quran-burning-stunt-in-sweden-cv0schbpg

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