On January 23, POSTV – Analytics and POSTV – Politics, Facebook pages of the pro-government media outlet POSTV, shared a video they claim features an address from the university classmates of the leader of the Droa party, Elene Khoshtaria. In the video, Russian-speaking individuals state that they were Khoshtaria’s classmates. One of them mentions that while studying at МГИМО (Moscow State Institute of International Relations), they used to drink together with her, but now, Khoshtaria drinks alone in Tbilisi:
“Greetings to Elene Khoshtaria! She studied with us at МГИМО, where we often drank together. Now, she has abandoned us and is drinking alone in Tbilisi. Come back to us; don’t drink without us. It’s bad for your health. We miss you very much, especially when it comes to drinking. Lenachka, either take us with you, or we’ll all come to you ourselves. And remember, our mafia will make anyone cry for your sake.”
An identical video also appeared on Facebook accounts that frequently share misinformation, including Nino Kvaratskhelia, Xaxutaishvili Irma, and Dato Faika Nacvlishvili.
A video manipulation about Elene Khoshtaria is being circulated. In reality, the video features individuals who provide paid services to internet users and upload videos for clients on TikTok. Consequently, anyone can pay them to record a video of the desired content.
During its investigation into the individuals shown in the video and its origin, Myth Detector traced it to a TikTok account named Cucumber Mafia, which belongs to the individuals in the video. The account has over half a million followers (516.8K) and contains hundreds of videos, including dozens of custom-made greeting or birthday messages recorded for specific individuals. The account description states that anyone interested in ordering a personalized video should contact them via direct message. This is further confirmed by a pinned video on the account explaining how to order a video.
The video involving Elene Khoshtaria was originally uploaded to this TikTok account on January 23 at 7:51 PM Tbilisi time, and about half an hour later, it began circulating on Facebook. The description of the original video uploaded by Cucumber Mafia also mentions that customers must send a direct message to order such videos.

Myth Detector contacted @cucumber_mafia to find out the cost of creating a personalized video. The team offers to produce a video tailored to the specific requests of an individual or group for $40, and a client only needs to provide the name and photo of the person for whom the video is being ordered.
It is worth noting that the video shared by POSTV is 38 seconds long, whereas the original video is 54 seconds. In the version uploaded to Facebook, the opening segment where the men introduce themselves is cut out, as well as the part where the third individual seen in the video speaks close to the camera. Interestingly, the cut-out footage shows the sleeve of the man’s jacket with a patch of the Ukrainian flag on it.
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