An advertisement posted in a bus shelter outside the Swedish embassy in Moscow shows the faces of Ingmar Bergman, Ingvar Kamprad and Astrid Lindgren next to the text "We are against Nazism, and they are not".
According to Kristian Gerner, professor of history and expert in Russian politics at Lund University, the Russian Nazi accusations against the famous Swedes should not be perceived as anything other than a way to keep the Russian population together.
- It is made public to tell the Russian audience that "we defend you".
Putin and Lavrov are creating a terrible atmosphere in Russia.
They are trying to get the Russians to stick together against the "external enemy".
- All this is for the internal Russian audience, it is internal propaganda.
A mood has been whipped up that they are being persecuted, surrounded and that everyone wants them.
You completely ignore the outside world.
Not a threat to Sweden
The accusations should therefore not be perceived as a threat to Sweden, says Kristian Gerner.
- We should not take this seriously, it is beyond all common sense.
It was not so extreme even during the worst Soviet era.
Are there other examples of Russian Nazi accusations against Sweden?
- Previously, it has been against the United States and NATO, but it has been in a reasonable context and within the framework of how to speak out against other states.
This is new, he says.