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Prostitution in Russia is illegal meaning sex workers operate in a hidden world outside the law, making them doubly vulnerable to infection and abuse |
Vladimir
Putin recently quipped that Russian prostitutes are "the best in the
world" as he dismissed unsubstantiated rumours that Moscow had
incriminating evidence on Donald Trump.
But
the reality is that Russian sex workers operate in a hidden world
outside the law and out of sight -- making them doubly vulnerable to
infection and abuse, as AFP journalists found after being granted rare
access to an illegal brothel.
In
a grand Stalin-era tower block in the northwestern city of Saint
Petersburg, a woman in her 30s opens the door of an apartment,
introducing herself as Inna, the receptionist of this so-called salon.
"Go
into the kitchen. Nadya's working, but Nastya and Madina are in there,"
she says. Nastya, 31, and Madina, 20, are wearing T-shirts over flimsy
nighties and are drinking tea in the small kitchen.
The
women only agree to speak to AFP because they trust an accompanying
activist from the only NGO in Russia for sex workers called Serebryanaya
Roza, or Silver Rose.
The
activist, Regina Akhmetzyanova, spends her evening going to such
clandestine brothels to give out condoms and to offer sex workers an HIV
test.
This
is particularly important for prostitutes since infection rates in
Russia are currently growing, with more than 103,000 new cases
identified in 2016, up five percent on the previous year, while the real
total is likely to be significantly higher.
Prostitutes admit they come under pressure to have unsafe sex.
"They've
beaten me and threatened me with a knife, forced me to do it without a
condom," said Madina, who is from Uzbekistan and speaks only basic
Russian.
"I've
had difficult situations with clients many times, for sure," added
Nastya, who came to the city from the Urals region. "I've learnt not to
show my fear."
- 'Absolute pariahs' -
"Russian
prostitutes are absolute pariahs who have no real way of defending
themselves," says Silver Rose's founder, Irina Maslova.
Maslova
knows what she is talking about. The slim blonde in her 40s says she
spent six years selling sex in the city before becoming an activist in
2003 and one of the few public advocates for prostitutes' rights.
While prostitution is illegal in Russia, it is punishable by a fine of just 1,500 rubles ($26, 24 euros).
Pimps
theoretically face up to three years in jail but are harder to convict
since this requires police to track financial flows.
Activists say this legal ban is often used by police as an excuse not to investigate crimes against sex workers.
"We're
told our profession doesn't exist, that means, we don't exist for the
government on the one hand, but on the other hand, since (prostitution)
is an administrative offence, sex workers are totally defenceless and
without rights," complains Maslova.
The
NGO chief believes that only legalisation of prostitution can bring an
end to the abuses against the women and aims to create what she calls a
"trade union for sex workers".
There
seems little prospect of this currently as officials and lawmakers back
conservative policies and stress the importance of fidelity in HIV
prevention campaigns.
Prostitution
officially did not exist in the Soviet Union but the first prostitutes
targeting foreigners appeared in the late 1980s, taking payment in
coveted hard currency.
In
the 1990s, prostitutes openly solicited for trade on Moscow streets.
Since the early 2000s, women have largely disappeared into brothels in
residential blocks that may masquerade as massage parlours and operate
allegedly under protection from corrupt police.
In
2015, the Kommersant business daily reported that brothels were
routinely "protected" by those in the police department supposed to
fight internal corruption, citing several former police officers.
- 'We're still people' -
In
Saint Petersburg, Russia's second largest city, activists estimate
there could be between 4,000 and 6,000 women who earn their living from
prostitution.
"These
women have all different backgrounds," says Akhmetzyanova. "There are
students, divorced women and even housewives -- their husbands don't
know or at least claim they don't."
Only
some 10 percent work on the streets, while most work in brothels in
city apartments, shared by a group of prostitutes with a security guard
and receptionist, who takes calls from clients.
Clients
find them from small ads pasted on the walls of buildings or on bus
stops offering "leisure" or "girls" or simply giving women's names and a
phone number. In the brothel, Akhmetzyanova prepares to test the women
for HIV when the entry phone rings.
"Quick,
girls, quick!" says Inna, looking at the video from a security camera
by the door, showing a man going up to the apartment.
Nastya
and Madina take off their T-shirts, put on high heels and run out.
About 10 minutes later, Madina comes back alone: the client has chosen
Nastya.
Every
night, the three women who work here have around 10 to 15 clients
between them but only receive half of the 2,000 rubles ($34) per hour
that each pays.
The
third woman Nadya, 33, comes back after her client leaves. She is
married but her unemployed husband does not know her line of work. She
sighs as she says: "We do what we do of our own accord, that's true."
"But we're still people all the same and it would be nice to be treated that way sometimes."
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