Local youths from the troubled Stockholm suburb of Rinkeby have told the Danish state-owned radio service Radio24syv that journalists from a Russian TV station offered them money to cause trouble in front of the camera.
They offered 400 Swedish kroner for causing ”action” in front of the camera, two of the young men told Radio24syv.
”They came to us and told us they wanted to see some action. They wanted to bribe each of us with 400 Swedish kroner,” says `Mohammed.`
`Mohammed` wants to remain anonymous, but Radio24syv is familiar with his identity.
`Mohammed` tells Radio24syv that two men approached the group and claimed to be Russian journalists. He also overheard them speaking in a language that sounded like Russian. Neither of the two young men knows which network the journalists came from.
”While we were talking to them, the police approached us. We didn`t want to do what the TV crew were asking from us. But when the police came, the journalists told the police that we were the ones who had asked for money to cause trouble,” `Mohammed` tells Radio24syv.
It has not been possible to get a comment from Swedish police.
Rinkeby has been subject to massive controversy lately. First U.S. president Donald Trump criticized the Swedish immigration policy upon seeing a documentary about Sweden. Shortly after riots broke out in Rinkeby, a suburb mainly populated by citizens of other ethnic backgrounds than Swedish. Cars were set on fire and rocks were thrown at the police.
Flemming Splidsboel, a senior lecturer at the Danish Institute of Foreign Affairs, calls it ”very, very interesting.” He believes Russia could have an interest in affecting the debate about refugees and asylum seekers in Sweden.
”It`s possible that the Russian government wants to affect the political debate in Sweden in favor of certain political parties, which hold a positive view on Russia,” Flemming Splidsboel tells Radio24syv.
