Police show Russian prostitutes red card at Cup
Moscow, June 9: For Russian prostitutes, the World Cup and its testosteronecharged fans could have meant big business. But in reality many will stay away from host cities after warnings from police, the head of the country’s only sex workers’ group has said.
Irina Maslova said a police crackdown will make it impossible for the majority of workers in the illegal trade to operate during the tournament, despite shock headlines about hordes of fans looking to pay for sex.
“Most brothels are simply closing because of warnings from police... those who remain will do so at their own risk,” said Maslova, whose organisation, Silver Rose, has members in more than 40 cities across the country.
Only those with a significant “krysha” ( the Russian for “roof”), that sees them pay a percentage of their earnings to officials and police in return for protection, will be able to operate as usual.
Maria, a worker in a “salon” in Saint Petersburg, said she had heard of several other such businesses closing recently, most likely because they had failed to come to an arrangement with authorities.
President Vladimir Putin has described Russian prostitutes as the “best in the world” and the country was notorious for its sex industry in the 1990s. But in recent years has seen a clean- up, with sex workers reporting reduced demand and being forced to slash prices after a financial crash in 2014.
“All the state organs and everyone associated with them will be harsher towards so called law- breakers and undesirable elements” as Russia attempts to project the cleanest image possible during the Cup, Maslova said.
Previous events such as the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics have seen police impose harsher fines on sex workers and in some cases imprison them for the duration of the competition, said the activist. Maslova was held in solitary confinement herself for 48 hours when police launched a cleanup operation ahead of the 300year anniversary of Saint Petersburg in 2003.
Other women were rounded up and dumped up to 60 kilometers outside the city, leading to the formation of the Silver Rose group to promote workers’ rights.
But those in the legal sex industry — such as strippers and the owner of a newly opened sex doll hotel — said they were expecting the Cup to bring a boost to a sector that has been badly hit in recent years. World