Bloomberg reports this with reference to Pekka Haavisto.
According to Haavisto, the potential ties of far-right politician Rasmus Paludan, who burned the holy book of Islam in the center of Stockholm, to Russia “have been investigated and some connections have been found in his environment.”
“The episode raises the question of whether some third party is seeking to stir the pot — for example Russia — or some other party opposing the NATO membership and looking to provoke to achieve that. This is unforgivable,” Haavisto said.
The Swedish government has not publicly commented on the Paludan-Russia connection before, but Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson noted "forces" that may want to prevent the country from joining the military alliance.
During the protests in Sweden on January 21, the politician Rasmus Paludan burned the Koran, but the journalist of the far-right media Exakt24 - a subsidiary of Russia Today - became the inspiration for this. Paludan himself said in a comment to the Swedish media that he was going to burn the Koran in front of the Turkish embassy "every Friday" until it stopped blocking Sweden's entry into NATO.