Hotel attack video goes viral in Georgia; police say it wasn't a hate crime

A man broke into a hotel room at Agarani Estate in Kakheti and punched a female tourist in the face. The victim's friend, Polina Kurta, shared the video on Instagram, where it attracted over 17 million views and 227,000 likes.

"In Georgia, men break into rooms and beat the shit out of girls for speaking Russian," Kurta wrote in the caption. An ambulance was called, and the victim, Yulia, was taken to the hospital. Both women gave statements to the police.

According to Kurta, the attacker overheard them speaking Russian on the balcony, and hotel management allegedly told him their room number. The hotel has denied this.

Social media users questioned the narrative. The Telegram channel Paper Kartuli quoted a commenter who wrote: "Why did you pour water on the wedding table, claiming you’d been disturbed? That’s exactly where the conflict started." Others asked: "How could they have heard you speaking Russian if you were on the second floor, inside a room, while they had an event with music going on downstairs?"

Georgia's Interior Ministry said the attacker has been detained. According to the ministry, the fight started after the tourists insulted wedding guests from a balcony and doused DJ equipment with water. The case is being investigated as minor intentional bodily harm, with a possible prison sentence of up to three years.

The hotel, Agarani Estate, condemned the violence and said its staff did not disclose the room number or participate in the altercation. Comments on the hotel's social media posts have been disabled.

Kurta stated that she speaks Russian but was born in Ukraine and now lives in Russia. Her friends are also from Ukraine and speak Russian. They traveled to Georgia to celebrate a birthday.