‘Sex guru’ faces new charges
Russian woman with links to Trump campaign also risks more jail time
BANGKOK: Police in Thailand have filed new charges against a self-described Russian sex guru and a woman who claims to have evidence of Russian ties to President Donald Trump’s election campaign.
The woman, Anastasia Vashukevich, also known as Nastya Rybka, has attracted widespread attention for claiming to have recordings of Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, a crony of President Vladimir Putin, discussing interference in the US election.
She is being held in an immigration detention centre and has said she fears for her life and pleaded not to be expelled to Russia.
Col Apichai Krobpetch, a police superintendent in Pattaya, where the two were arrested with eight others for working illegally by holding a sex training course, confirmed yesterday that additional arrest warrants had been issued for soliciting, with a maximum prison term of 10 years, and conspiracy, which carries a maximum penalty of seven years.
The original charge on which all 10 were held was working without a permit, punishable by up to 10 years’ imprisonment.
Three of the 10 have already received a suspended jail sentence of six months and been ordered to leave the country. The others will have to appear in court on April 17 to hear the new charges.
The group was arrested on Feb 25 in a hotel meeting room in Pattaya, a seaside resort city noted for its sex industry and popularity with Russian visitors.
The lessons were attended by about 40 Russian tourists, many wearing T-shirts saying “Sex animator” in English with an arrow pointing to the wearer’s crotch. The course was led by Alexander Kirillov, also known as Alex Lesley, who was Vashukevich’s mentor.
Vashukevich, who carries a passport from Belarus, became the centre of a public scandal in early February when Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny published an investigation drawing on her social media posts suggesting corrupt links between billionaire Deripaska and a top Kremlin official, Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Prikhodko.
The report featured video from Deripaska’s yacht in 2016, when Vashukevich claims she was having an affair with him and allegedly recorded him talking about Russian interference in US politics. — AP