Earlier this month the Spanish version of Russia’s international news company RT announced that Sweden, the most attractive country in the world wants out of the EU.
RT claims that in a recent poll a majority of Swedes expressed a desire to leave the European Union, however RT fails to mention when the poll was conducted, who organized it and how many people actually participated.
In the same story however, RT inexplicably points out that in 2016 Sweden was rated the most reputable country in the world according to the Reputation Institute.
Sweden’s English language publication The Local contradicts RT’s claim completely. A new survey conducted after the result of Britain’s Brexit referendum became known, showed that 52 percent of Swedes would vote to stay in the European Union.
The online poll included 1012 randomly selected persons and was conducted three days following the British referendum.
Russian media eagerly speculated on the possibility of other countries following Britain’s example and leaving the EU. The Russian language version of RT manipulated a Washington Post story to claim that six other countries also wanted to leave the EU.
The Washington Post story listed four EU countries (France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark) where politicians from right wing parties with anti-immigration platforms are seeking a vote on leaving the EU. The article did not claim that a majority of people in those countries actually wanted to leave the European Union.
