At the end of June 2025, media and Telegram channels distributed a video in which Estonian Education Minister Kristina Kallas allegedly cannot solve a simple arithmetic example. We have verified the accuracy of such publications.

An excerpt from the official’s interview went viral on June 29. The Estonian-language video with Russian-language voiceover overlaid begins with Kristina Kallas saying that education is not limited to mathematical formulas, after which the interviewer asks her how much 8 times 4 is. In response to this question, the Estonian Minister of Education begins to laugh and says that he does not know.

It was written that Callas failed to cope with this elementary mathematical problem. Russia Today, Lenta.ru, Life.ru, "Komsomolskaya Pravda", "Russian newspaper", "Constantinople", "Gazeta.ru" And EADaily. The video was distributed by Telegram channels “Live broadcast • news"(830,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), "Solovyov"(236,000), "Putin on Telegram"(215,000), "Evil proof"(215,000), "Uncle Slava"(193,000), Colonelcassad (184,000), "Russia now • news"(168,000), etc.

A reverse search on the screenshot from the video showed that this is a fragment roller, posted on the YouTube channel of the Estonian publication Levila. Although the episode has only just become viral, the video itself is almost six months old - it was published on January 15. The heroine of the interview, which lasts 6.5 minutes, is indeed Christina Callas, who since 2023 takes post of Minister of Education and Science of Estonia.

Full interview with Christina Callas

The interviewer asked Callas questions about the local education system. The official, referring to results international test PISA, called schooling in Estonia one of the best in the world, after which the interlocutor asked when schools stopped using corporal punishment and whether it could be brought back to deal with bullies. Callas replied that this method was ineffective, and at the 3:35 mark pronounces the phrase that ended up in a viral video: “Education is not just about mathematical formulas.” After this, the interviewer asks Callas how much 8 multiplied by 4 will be. She answers with a smile: “I don’t know,” and asks the interlocutor to answer. He correctly solves the example, and the minister ends the dialogue by saying: “You see.”

All 6.5 min. The interviewer asks the minister funny questions. For example, he asked questions about her father Siim (so name is the father of the former Prime Minister of Estonia and the current head of European diplomacy Kai Kallas, but Kristina is only her namesake), the ethics of love relationships between teachers and students, etc. Towards the end of the conversation, the interviewer showed the minister a video in which he came to “charge the hooligan magic pendulum” to the building of the Estonian parliament, because this place, in his opinion, has a “strong hooligan aura.”

The interviewer is a well-known comedian in Estonia, performing under the pseudonym Maiduk. He conducts humorous interviews with politicians, public figures and stars, for example football player Ragnar Klavan and archbishop Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church by Urmas Viilma. Maiduk asks his guests absurd and provocative questions about their field of activity, and sometimes even offers non-standard solutions to government problems. Thus, to Martu Vyrklaev, who held the post of Minister of Finance at the time of the interview, Maiduk suggested close the budget deficit by investing €12 million in cryptocurrency.

It is unknown why a fragment from Callas’s January comic interview went viral on RuNet in June. In Estonian, this episode with comments that the Minister of Education does not know the multiplication tables was not widespread either then or now.

The first such post in Russian appeared June 28 at 16:55 Moscow time on the Fox News Russia Telegram channel. Attached to this post was a video from a TikTok user with the username @georgirudi. This Russian-speaking blogger is from Estonia published excerpt from an interview with Callas along with her misleading comments back in February. It was in the voiceover used by @georgirudi that the video began to spread across Telegram channels, especially actively after publications on the Batkovich channel on the evening of June 29. Both these channels have already become primary sources of fake publications. In addition to Russian-language Telegram channels, a large number of publications with tens of thousands of views are also found in X - both Russian, and on English language.

So the part where the Estonian education minister can't multiply 8 by 4 was cut from a joke interview she gave to a local comedian. It is unlikely that such a conversation can serve as proof that Christina Callas does not know the multiplication table.

Cover photo: Facebook / Kristina Kallas