Antifake / Factcheck

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Oktoberfest canceled due to Russophobia? Shkvarka News suspected Germans feared Kalinka-Malinka

In reality, the beer festival in Munich took place in late September and early October.

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Fake appearance date: 02.10.2025
Oktoberfest in Munich was canceled due to Russophobia, reported the authors of the Telegram channel Shkvarka News. They backed up their claim with a video showing people dancing to Kalinka in a festival pavilion. The Weekly Top Fake team found the original footage and discovered how the beer festival went this year.

The post with the video, which according to Shkvarka News authors explains the cancellation of Oktoberfest in 2025, was published on October 2. The footage shows people in a pavilion where the festival is taking place dancing to the song Kalinka.

"The real reason Oktoberfest was canceled has been revealed! German authorities were afraid of people's love for Russian culture. While some dance to Kalinka-Malinka, others understand that genuine friendship between our peoples doesn't fit into Berlin's Russophobic policies," the news authors wrote.

Oktoberfest 2025 actually did take place in Munich this year. The festival ran from September 20 to October 5. However, it was temporarily suspended. On October 1, a fire broke out in the city with a threat of explosion. Although this happened in another part of the city, police ordered a temporary halt to the festival because during the preliminary investigation, they found a letter written by the suspect near the scene with a threat of an explosion linked to Oktoberfest, but without any specifics. During the inspection, police found no real threat, so the festival reopened to visitors that same evening.

As for the video published by Shkvarka News authors: it was filmed several years ago, and the clip first surfaced on social media in 2022. Both Russian and Belarusian media reported on it.