In pro-Russian segments of social media, a fake story is being spread about an alleged new law in Estonia that supposedly obliges citizens to report relatives in Russia or Belarus to the government and bans having more than three such family ties.

Analysts from the StopFake project drew attention to this claim.

In the fake quote, Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna is allegedly said to have called this a “national security measure” that balances “humanity” with the “protection of sovereignty based on non-traditional family values”.

This information is not true. No reputable Estonian media outlet or official government resource has reported such an initiative. The original source of the fake is a Telegram post by Gennady Afanasyev, signed as the “Estonian Curiosities Agency ‘Ahead of Events’”. Afanasyev, a resident of Narva, served as the city’s deputy mayor in 1999–2000 and later took part in the activities of pro-Russian organizations such as the Russian Party of Estonia and the European Russian Alliance. Since 2005, he has been banned from entering Latvia due to activities aimed at strengthening Russian influence in the Baltic region.

Today, Afanasyev does not hold any political office but actively maintains a Facebook page where he publishes pro-Russian “satirical” content. His posts often contain barely noticeable satire disclaimers, which leads many Russian-speaking users to perceive them as factual. The Estonian anti-propaganda blog Propastop has previously noted that Afanasyev’s posts are aimed at radicalizing public discourse, promoting anti-Western narratives, and increasing informational pressure on Estonian society, especially ahead of local elections.

A fake story has been circulating on pro-Russian Telegram channels since 1 October 2025. It claims that the German government allegedly canceled the Oktoberfest festival in Munich because visitors enthusiastically sang the Russian song “Kalinka”. Analysts from the Gvara Media project drew attention to this disinformation.

As “evidence”, posts cite a video showing people dancing to this melody. The captions claim: “The German authorities were frightened by the people’s love for Russian culture. While some are dancing to Kalinka, others understand that friendship between our peoples contradicts Berlin’s Russophobic policy”. This information was also actively spread in various languages on X, TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.

Analysts checked information about Oktoberfest 2025, which took place in Munich from 20 September to 5 October. It turned out that on 1 October the festival was indeed temporarily suspended, but not because of Russian songs. The pause was due to suspicion of a possible explosive device on the festival grounds. Police conducted an inspection, and after it was completed, the festival resumed the same day at 17:30, as reported on the official pages of Munich police and Oktoberfest.

As for the video being circulated as proof, analysis showed that it was filmed in the Augustiner Festhalle tent, which is characteristic of Oktoberfest. However, the video is not from 2025 – it dates back to at least 2022. It was actively circulated by Russian media and social media users in October 2022, including on the YouTube channel “UNS – UNITED PEOPLE OF SERBIA” (published on 2 October 2022).

This story is fake and was created as part of a Russian information and psychological operation. It promotes narratives about the “Russophobia” of European countries and the alleged widespread support for Russian culture among Europeans. In reality, Oktoberfest 2025 went ahead as planned, and the temporary suspension was solely related to security measures.