In Krasnodar Krai, which has seen record tourist traffic since the start of the war, about 10% of all illegal alcohol in Russia is produced. Although police regularly report shutting down clandestine workshops, homemade wine and beer still make their way into markets and shops.
On August 7, the regional courts’ press service said that at least ten people had died after being poisoned by homemade chacha and “house wine.” Investigators say the drinks were bought in July and August 2025 at the Kazachiy market in the settlement of Sirius in Krasnodar Krai.
Law enforcement officers detained 71-year-old Sochi resident Eteri Tsvi zhba and her 30-year-old granddaughter Olesya on suspicion of producing and selling the alcohol. Both are charged under Part 3 of Article 238 of the Russian Criminal Code, which carries a sentence of up to ten years in prison. A court ordered both women held in custody for two months.
“I fully admit my guilt. It was an unintentional crime, committed without awareness. We understand the full scale of the tragedy,” Olesya said in court.
Tsvi zhba, known in Sirius as “Grandma Eteri,” has been selling goods at the local market for more than thirty years. According to the Adler District Court, she had already been detained in June 2016 for selling alcohol containing toxic substances, including methanol, ethyl acetate, 1-propanol, isoamylol, and benzaldehyde.
At that time, police seized 65 plastic bottles of alcohol that she was said to have bought from “unidentified persons” and brought to the market. In that earlier case, the court fined her 30,000 rubles.
Sirius is a Black Sea resort settlement with a population of about 14,000, near the border with Abkhazia, linked to Russia by a bridge over the Psou River. Before Olympic construction began, the area had a large Kazachiy market where tourists bought fruit and nuts from Abkhazia. Today only a few rows of stalls remain under the sign “Baz ar.” One of them belonged to “Grandma Eteri,” who sold honey, homemade wine, chacha, and churchkhela, with help from her granddaughter.