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Russian Sex, The U.S. Embassy & Trump

Russian Sex, The U.S. Embassy & Trump

By Richard S. Ehrlich

BANGKOK, Thailand -- A Belorussian woman and her nine companions from Russia and Belarus, who are in jail for sex-related activity in Thailand, sent a letter to the U.S. Embassy pleading for asylum in exchange for alleged criminal evidence concerning Russians who may be linked to President Trump.

The 10 jailed people include Anastasia Vashukevich, a Belorussian "mistress" of Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska, their handwritten signed letter said.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Prikhodko and Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny were also named in their letter which said "U.S. relations with Russia" and "very important information for USA" were involved.

"We have photo-video-audio of crymes [sic] of Russian government. And I give them USA if you help us," it said according to Khaosod English, a Thailand-based online news service which published a photograph of the letter.

Addressed "To USA Consul" it was written by Alexander Kirillov, a Russian also known as Alex Lesley, who was jailed along with the others.

The letter did not reveal evidence or details to support their claim.

It was delivered on February 28 by Pavlo Yunko who said he attended the "awesome...really fun" sex lessons.

The "political asylum" request came the same day Thailand's 2014 coup leader Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha met in Bangkok with the visiting Russian security council secretary and former Federal Security Service director Nikolai Patrushev.

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They talked about bilateral tourism and security but it was not publicly known if they discussed the 10 jailed people.

The 10 tourists were arrested on February 25 in Pattaya, a notoriously sleazy beach resort on the Gulf of Thailand where they allegedly participated in illegal lessons about sex, taught by Mr. Kirillov.

Thai officials said they received complaints about the $700 week-long class and, after raiding the meeting, arrested the 10 for visa violations and working without a permit.

Foreigners working without a permit can be jailed up to five years but are usually fined and deported, which is what the group of 10 now fear.

Ms. Vashukevich calls herself Nastya Rybka on her Instagram account (@nastya_rybka.ru) where she introduces herself to more than 100,000 followers as "Deripaska's mistress".

Her last update from jail on February 28 said "if we go back to Russia we will die in Russian's [sic] prison or they will kill us."

One hour earlier, Ms. Vashukevich wrote: "Please USA help us not to die from Russians!"

Mr. Navalny, a critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, "used our videos for his investigation" against various Russians, she said.

"In my book 'Who wants to seduce a billionaire' there are many facts that hurt influential people of several countries," she wrote on February 23.

Her book "The Diary of How to Seduce a Billionaire" was published in 2017 and included falsely named characters in fake locations, but supposedly were easy to decipher.

Anti-Putin activist Mr. Navalny assumed she had written about her presence with her oligarch lover Mr. Deripaska and the powerful deputy prime minister Mr. Prikhodko on a yacht.

He apparently figured this out because she had separately posted online several photos of her time on the yacht with the two men, plus other details.

Mr. Navalny claimed "Deripaska in the book is called 'Ruslan' -- his company is called Rusal -- while Prikhodko is called 'Daddy' -- the man to whom everyone, including the oligarch, defers," reported The Daily Beast news.

Ms. Vashukevich and the two men cruised together on the yacht during August 7, 2016 off Norway's coast, according to Mr. Navalny.

During Mr. Navalny's recent sensational video "investigation" into alleged corruption by Russians, he read from Ms. Vashukevich's book where she supposedly portrayed the deputy prime minister:

"This is the gray eminence of the regime. [The] Richelieu of our time...There's hardly any information on the internet, but since [former Russian President Boris] Yeltsin's times, he's been deputy prime minister and worked at the presidential administration.

"He writes pre-election speeches, presidential addresses to the assembly, he's got a lot of awards...He's the only one the president hasn't dismissed yet, a long-term member of the government, he's been among the top officials since the '90s.

"That's why they call him Daddy. He's been responsible for Russia's foreign policy for the government, he has very large influence," Ms. Vashukevich's book said, according to Mr. Navalny.

"The video investigation goes on to document some of the very expensive properties owned by the deputy PM, underscoring his alleged corruption in much the same way other Navalny videos have done with other officials, including Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev," The Daily Beast reported in February.

President Donald Trump is supposedly linked to all this through Washington lobbyist Paul Manafort who allegedly was paid by Mr. Deripaska beginning in 2005.

"At the very least, these two men [Deripaska and Manafort] know each other very well, and one has been getting money from the other," Mr. Navalny reportedly said in his video.

Mr. Navalny then indicated -- but provided no evidence -- that Mr. Deripaska was transmitting valuable information about Mr. Trump and the presidential election to the Russian deputy prime minister, so Mr. Putin would be informed.

It all happened "on an oligarch's yacht [with] a bunch of prostitutes. Yes there were several," Mr. Navalny said in his video.

The video shocked Russians.

But Ms. Vashukevich's babbling on Instagram about her role as a sexy subversive -- illustrated with gorgeous selfies of her duck mouth and G-stringed rear in various exotic locales -- also pumped the scandal, prompting more conspiracy theories and allegations.

"This dubious woman Rybka [Ms. Vashukevich] has been breaking news about Prikhodko and Deripaska, using social networks, just as Navalny or Trump do. She has grown famous, instantly," Olga Bychkova, deputy editor in chief of Echo of Moscow radio, told The Daily Beast.

She also poked at Americans.

"Why is Mark Zuckerberg aiding in the removal of evidence, such important [sic] for his country?" Ms. Vashukevich wrote on February 22, referring to "Russia's interference in US elections."

She posted photos of herself posing without clothes while clutching a bed sheet in a Pattaya hotel on February 21.

Ms. Vashukevich was one of the instructors in the Pattaya sex class where she was introduced to an audience of about 30 fully clothed people, mostly men, who dramatically cheered and bowed down to her.

"My loyal subjects, honest toilers of aquariums and reservoirs meet their Queen, falling prostrate," she wrote on February 21 on Instagram, linking a video of the celebratory audience.

Some men wore the group's T-shirt which said in big red letters, "Sex Animator" above a black arrow pointing down to their waist.

***

Richard S. Ehrlich is a Bangkok-based journalist from San Francisco, California, reporting news from Asia since 1978 and winner of Columbia University's Foreign Correspondent's Award. He is a co-author of three non-fiction books about Thailand, including "'Hello My Big Big Honey!' Love Letters to Bangkok Bar Girls and Their Revealing Interviews," "60 Stories of Royal Lineage," and "Chronicle of Thailand: Headline News Since 1946." Mr. Ehrlich also contributed to the chapter "Ceremonies and Regalia" in a book published in English and Thai titled, "King Bhumibol Adulyadej, A Life's Work: Thailand's Monarchy in Perspective." Mr. Ehrlich's newest book, "Sheila Carfenders, Doctor Mask & President Akimbo" describes a female mental patient who is abducted to Asia by her San Francisco psychiatrist.

His online sites are:

https://asia-correspondent.tumblr.com


https://www.facebook.com/SheilaCarfenders/


https://www.amazon.com/Sheila-Carfenders-Doctor-President-Akimbo/dp/1973789353/


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