Man arrested in Georgia over attack on Russian-speaking tourist: What we know
Russian tourist assaulted in Georgia
A young Georgian man has been arrested on charges of attacking a Russian-speaking tourist in Georgia. If convicted, he faces up to three years in prison.
Video of the incident quickly spread across social media, including Russian-language Telegram channels and Instagram accounts.
Russian-speaking social media users have described the incident as an attack motivated by ethnic or linguistic hatred.
Relatives of the accused, who say they witnessed the incident, have given a very different account. According to them, the confrontation was preceded by insults from the Russian-speaking tourists.
Here’s what is known about the incident so far.
What does the viral video show?
Footage of the incident was posted on Instagram on 18 July by Polina Kurta.
She shared the video with the following caption:
“Our holiday at @agaraniestate turned into a nightmare when a man, after hearing us speaking Russian at a hotel in Kakheti near Tbilisi, broke into our room (the reception staff told him our room number) and assaulted my friend @julimurr simply because she speaks Russian.
I’m sitting in an ambulance in Tbilisi, and I’m terrified for my life and for my friend’s.”
In a series of Instagram Stories, the author also appealed to Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze to pay attention to the incident and help address the situation.
The video is 30 seconds long. It shows a young man entering a hotel room and speaking aggressively to a young woman in English. The woman tries to push him out of the room and grabs his arm. In response, the man swears at her and punches her in the face, knocking her to the floor.
The footage then shows paramedics inside the room. The young woman is lying on a bed with blood visible on her face.
On Instagram, Polina Kurta describes herself as a brow artist. Her social media profile suggests she is based in Moscow.
Following the incident, Kurta wrote on Instagram Stories that she is of Ukrainian origin and lives in Russia. She said her friends are Ukrainians and that they had travelled to Georgia to celebrate a birthday.
Background to the incident
The incident took place on 18 July at the Agrani Estate hotel in the eastern Georgian town of Telavi.
At the time, the hotel was hosting the wedding celebration of a Georgian couple. The Russian-speaking women were staying at the same hotel.
The young man accused of assaulting one of the women is the groom’s brother.
After the video was published, many people who had attended the wedding shared their own accounts of the incident on social media. Among them was Tamuna Tskitishvili, a relative of the detained man.
She claimed that the hotel guests had been annoyed by the wedding celebration. According to her, they poured water and wine from a balcony onto wedding guests, spat at them, and later even poured urine on them.
“They dispersed for a while but kept provoking us. When they saw there were lots of drunk young people, they started getting on everyone’s nerves, shouting things like ‘Papuans’ and ‘Georgian pigs’. While the bride was dancing, they spat at her. We asked the hotel administration a thousand times to deal with the situation, but unfortunately they couldn’t. We don’t know exactly when or how it happened, but the groom’s brother went over to speak to [the tourist], and she grabbed him by the throat. He was drunk, and I’m not trying to justify what he did. But that’s what happened beforehand,” she wrote.
Several short videos later circulated on social media showing young women standing on a balcony arguing with guests attending the wedding.
In another video, a wedding guest can be heard shouting at the women on the balcony: “You’re not in your own country!”
The author of the video, Polina Kurta, has repeatedly said in her Instagram Stories that her friend was assaulted for speaking Russian. She also claims that reports alleging the women had insulted wedding guests are false.
What the defendant’s lawyer says
After the incident attracted widespread attention, photos began circulating online showing apparent injuries to the neck of the accused, Giorgi Chigladze.
The defendant’s lawyer, Lasha Kapanadze, says Chigladze sustained neck injuries inside the hotel room before he struck the woman.
He argues that Chigladze “was the victim of a provocation.”
Kapanadze, who also attended the wedding, said the celebration was taking place on a first-floor terrace, while the women were staying on the third floor.
“From the third floor, the young women began shouting ‘Kiss! Kiss!’ at the bride and groom. People noticed them. In response, [the tourists] became angry and started throwing liquid and spitting at the guests. The liquid got onto the sound equipment, and the music stopped,” he said.
According to Kapanadze, the incident escalated into a heated verbal confrontation. As tensions grew, the musician hired to perform at the wedding, Aleksandre Mrelashvili, eventually left the celebration.
Chigladze then went up to the third floor.
According to his lawyer, he was trying to explain to the women that they had disrupted his brother’s wedding. The woman insisted that he speak Russian, while Chigladze asked her to speak Georgian or English instead, “because she was in his country.”
“She then became even more aggressive, grabbed Chigladze by the throat and injured him. Chigladze grabbed her by the arm and shouted, ‘You fucking whore!’
“The verbal confrontation then turned physical, and the woman struck the defendant several times. Other women in the room began recording the incident.
“She hit Chigladze in the chest with both hands. He felt pain. Acting in self-defence, he swung his right arm and struck her in the face with his elbow, causing her to fall.”
The hotel’s response
Following the incident, the Agrani Estate hotel complex published a lengthy statement on social media.
The hotel sought to distance itself from the incident, saying it called the police immediately after the situation escalated and has been cooperating fully with the investigation.
“There is no place for violence at Agrani Estate. We deeply regret that such an incident occurred on our premises and sincerely wish everyone affected a full recovery and well-being,” the statement said.
The hotel’s post has since attracted thousands of critical comments. Users questioned what staff had done to stop the confrontation, why appropriate safety measures had not been in place, and why the hotel had not been closed to other guests while such a large wedding celebration was taking place.
“Agrani Estate is proud to welcome guests from all over the world, regardless of their cultural or national background,” the hotel administration said.
Georgia’s Interior Ministry account
According to Georgia’s Interior Ministry, the case is being investigated under Article 120 of the Criminal Code, which covers the intentional infliction of minor bodily harm. The offence carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison.
“According to witness testimony, during a wedding ceremony at a hotel in Telavi, foreign nationals staying at the hotel insulted wedding guests from a balcony and poured water over the sound equipment. The defendant then inflicted physical injuries on one of the foreign nationals.
“As a result of operational measures and investigative actions, the person responsible for the offence has been arrested,” the ministry said in a statement.
Social media reaction
The incident at the hotel in Georgia’s Kakheti region has become one of the most widely discussed topics across Georgian social media.
While Georgian users have largely condemned violence against women, many also argue that provocations involving Russian tourists have become more frequent in recent years.
Some expressed concern that the defendant could face an especially harsh punishment in order for the ruling Georgian Dream party to avoid tensions with Russia.
Lawyer Saba Brachveli has pointed out that Giorgi Chigladze also sustained injuries, arguing that this may indicate provocation and should be taken into account by investigators.
“Our criminal law recognises the concept of provocation. That is, when a person deliberately creates or provokes the threat of an attack in order to later use force (or other means) against the attacker and justify that use of force by citing an attack that they themselves instigated,” he wrote.
According to Brachveli, the criminal justice system must be flexible and proportionate to the context in which it operates.
“Whether this is a case of provocation, legitimate self-defence or another legal mechanism, the state cannot tell society that a person who was subjected to verbal and physical abuse, whose brother’s wedding was disrupted, whose equipment was damaged, whose musician was forced to leave, and who was asked to speak the language of the occupying power in his own country is the one at fault,” he wrote.
Russian tourist assaulted in Georgia
