A video is circulating across Russia’s fringe platforms purportedly showing Ukrainian soldiers cutting bacon on the Quran, as well as using its pages to start a fire. The plot is simple: “Look at this religious intolerance and disrespect to Islam among Ukrainian troops!”
Of course, the staged nature of this “performance” is more than obvious. The very mediocrity of the idea to film this is simply ridiculous, especially given the weak acting skills of this involved in the scene and the mediocre approach to such a far-fetched plot.
Russian propaganda continues to portray Ukraine’s army in the eyes of information fast food consumers as a misanthropic force intolerant of other nations and religions. That is, the Russians keep spreading the outrageously false narrative of fightung against Ukrainian “Nazism”.
Also, by shooting and circulating the video, Russian propaganda is trying to cause indignation toward and rejection of Ukraine on the part of Muslim countries. I am more than sure that they will try to spin the clip through Russian fringe platforms toward audiences in countries where the main religion is Islam.
But this performance should be seen in a wider context. Earlier this year, the Quran was burnt in Stockholm by an “activist” Rasmus Paludan. His actions were aimed at inciting hostility between Sweden and Türkiye. But the most interesting thing is who stood behind Paludan’s gig.
The act of vandalism was covered by journalist Chang Johannes Frick, owner of the online publication Nyheter idag and a host at SD Riks, who previously worked for Russia Today (RT) and reported for Russia’s propaganda outlet Ruptly.
The connection between the Stockholm vandal and Russian agents of influence surfaced rather quickly. Now, Russian propaganda is trying to kill two birds with one stone – to discredit Ukraine among Muslims, as well as shift public focus away from the actions of its assets in Sweden.
The only thing that pleases my eye is that the stunt was so clumsily staged that the organizers themselves gave themselves away and even framed themselves. After all, once again the Russians have shown that for the sake of a cheap provocation they are ready to use such radical and disgusting methods.