Sex Patent: How the system of ethnic prostitution in Moscow is organized
Not only men with families are traveling to Russia from Central Asia to earn money, but also single women who sell their sex services. Against the backdrop of a large-scale police raid on brothels in the south-east of Moscow, Izvestiya's correspondent talked to migrant prostitutes about their lives, everyday life and the economics of low-price brothels. It turned out that the landlords who rent out housing for the needs of prostitutes earn the most from them. However, such "rentiers" risk imprisonment for up to 15 years.
70 brothels
- At home, I get an end from my father and brothers," said a girl from Central Asia who provides sex services in the capital's Kuzminki district, showing a characteristic gesture with her palm near her neck.
But despite all the risks and police raids, migrant prostitutes still choose their lifestyle over low-skilled labor.
In November 2024, criminal investigation officers of the police of the South-Eastern District of Moscow together with colleagues from the city's police department conducted a large-scale raid on the territory of several Moscow districts. As a result, 70 brothels for prostitution were liquidated and 20 apartments for accommodation of illegal migrants were identified, the Interior Ministry said.
In the course of the measures, 135 protocols were drawn up for prostitution and violation of the regime of stay in Russia, and cash, bank cards, cell phones, data carriers and rough accounting were seized.
As a result, nine suspects were detained in the case of organizing illegal migration (part 3 of article 322.1 of the Criminal Code) and organizing prostitution (part 1 of article 241 of the Criminal Code), including the alleged leader of the criminal group, the Interior Ministry stressed. They face up to 15 years of imprisonment.
However, some brothels on the territory of the same South-Eastern Administrative District continue to operate even after the raids, "Izvestia" was convinced. Our correspondent chose one of the popular services with profiles of prostitutes, which allows you to set a filter to search for services in certain segments and districts of Moscow. In South-Eastern Administrative District we found 36 profiles of girls of Asian appearance with a price tag of up to 4 thousand rubles per hour (with the average price of sex services on the site from 7-10 thousand rubles). In total, 510 profiles were found in Moscow in this segment.
Nanny from Kuzminoki
The first address turned out to be in an old paneled high-rise building in the Kuzminki district. The questionnaire contained photos of a young girl in underwear with a blurred face, a standard set of services and a price tag of 3,500 rubles per hour. The call was answered by a female dispatcher. We managed to arrange a meeting by 13:00. Contrary to the stamps, most of the clients visit prostitutes in the daytime. As for night work with them it is necessary to agree in advance, and such services will cost more.
The door was opened by a girl of Central Asian appearance wearing tight leopard underwear, a collar, black hare ears on her head and high heeled strips. Amina (names, ages and details of the biography of the interlocutors in the material changed in order to preserve anonymity) offered the client rubber slippers and, waving sticking out of the back of the fox tail, escorted into the room.
The interior of such a tiny one-bedroom apartment is most often described by realtors as "grandmother's renovation". In addition to Amina, there was another woman in the apartment - Marika, dressed in a silk robe. The two of them were working together. But her partner was on the phone in the kitchen, ignoring the guest. She was the one who answered the customers' calls. Amina explained the division of labor between the two migrants by the difference in their knowledge of the Russian language.
The Izvestiya correspondent was offered a shower, tea or coffee. Amina obsessively offered various caresses, until our author explained that he had come "in a bad mood", had quarreled with the girl and "just wanted to talk it out".
The sex worker willingly told her brief biography: she is 30 years old, has been working in Moscow for the second year, and has a three-year-old son in her homeland, who is being raised by his grandmother.
- My husband is dead to me," Amina said.
She has been divorced for several years, does not receive alimony and supports her family on her own. And the marriage was not for love - the groom was chosen by her parents, Amina said.
- In our country, a woman can't get married without marriage, and neither can a man. And in a marriage, children are bound to appear. At least, that's the way it is in my family," said the migrant.
In her home country, she worked as a nanny. In terms of Russian rubles, she was paid about 20,000 a month. Amina learned about the possibility of earning money as a prostitute from an acquaintance. She came to Russia legally: she obtained a patent, for which, according to her, she pays 9,000 rubles a month, and began renting an apartment together with a friend. When the girls disagreed about something, her former partner reported Amina to the police.
The interlocutor of "Izvestiya" was detained and taken to the police department, but was eventually released without a report. No grounds for administrative or criminal prosecution were found. After that, the "friend" also called Amina's parents and told them what their daughter was doing.
- But they didn't believe her," says Amina. - I don't know why she did that. Then she called and apologized to me. I am no longer angry, but I will not communicate with such a person.
Sex rant
When Amina started working with her current partner, things got more confident. Marika helped to make a photo shoot (cost 10 thousand rubles), to start a questionnaire (pays for it 2 thousand rubles a month) and find a suitable apartment. She is also responsible for making calls and paying for accommodation. On average, Amina spends 8-10 hours a day with clients, earning about Br30,000. In two years she has saved up for an apartment in her native country. Amina's clients are of different nationalities, but she tries to avoid her fellow countrymen. She is afraid that if they recognize her as a compatriot, they will threaten or blackmail her relatives.
- You can have sex before marriage, but we can't. And I didn't have much of it during marriage, but I like sex very much," Amina says.
Although the interviewee of Izvestiya argued that she was tired and wanted to return home, she insisted at the same time that she was satisfied with her "work" and that she was not considering legal ways of earning money in Russia.
Usually girls post their ads on several major Internet resources, often duplicating their profiles.
At the time of publication on the site with Amina's profile was active another 7850 ads. From this we can conclude that the minimum income of service owners, without additional payments for advertising and promotion, is at least 15 million rubles per month.
But the most expensive for prostitutes is an apartment - 3800 rubles per day. Monthly rental housing with a more decent repair and the same area in Kuzminki is twice cheaper - about 55 thousand rubles. But not everyone is ready to rent an apartment to Amina and Marika, admitted the interlocutor of "Izvestia. In her opinion, the landlords are at least guessing what purposes they are providing the overpriced apartment for.
It seems that it is the "rentiers" who are ready to turn a blind eye to any tenants who earn the most in this business. At least one of them was among those detained in November in the case of organizing illegal migration and prostitution in South-Eastern Administrative District. In any case, this was the role of the key figure emphasized in the message of the judicial press service about those arrested after the raid. According to the preliminary version of the Interior Ministry, the organizer's income was more than 5 million rubles a month. The others received a monthly cash remuneration of 80 thousand. rubles.
The law enforcers did not specify the roles of the specific defendants, but the court's report revealed their names - 38-year-old Andrei Polikarpov from Yakutia, 37-year-old Olga Ilyina and 33-year-old Ekaterina Egorova from Chuvashia, as well as 24-year-old Kyrgyz natives Timurlan Abdullalaev and Abdinazar Kylychbek Uulu.
Andrey Nikolayevich Polikarpov
"Izvestia" tried to study the information existing in the public domain about those arrested in the Kuzminsky district court. None of them appeared to have any business, managerial positions or an obvious criminal record. What united all the defendants in the case was the presence of numerous advertisements for daily rent of apartments linked to their phone numbers.
Olga Petrovna Ilyina
Polikarpov turned out to be registered with the tax office as an individual entrepreneur with the main type of activity "management of owned or rented residential real estate". From social networks it is clear that the man is fond of boxing and spends a lot of time in the gym. Izvestiya's sources in law enforcement agencies assure that it is him that the investigation assigns the role of a key figure in the case. In response to Izvestia's request to tell her version of events, Polikarpov's wife categorically refused to communicate.
- This is all an overblown lie, and you are going to write slander about people," the woman said, after which she blocked the possibility of making calls and sending messages in the messenger.
Kylychbek Uulu Abdinazar
At the top of the business of organizing prostitution and illegal migration are real estate owners who receive super profits from renting out housing for such categories of citizens, Kirill Kabanov, chairman of the National Anti-Corruption Committee and member of the Human Rights Council under the President of the Russian Federation, confirmed to Izvestia.
- Now such apartments are already being actively bought by Central Asians themselves, earning money by housing their fellow countrymen in them," Kabanov said. - Diasporas are springing up, which also provide corrupt support. I see this even in the neighborhoods where I live.
Arina Fayrushina, a volunteer with the anti-slavery movement Alternative, told Izvestia that her organization has repeatedly encountered brothels for migrants. According to her, girls in these establishments are often held against their will. They are usually lured there in their home countries on the pretext of coming and getting a regular job in Russia, for example as a seamstress or cook. Upon arrival, the girl's documents are taken away from her and she is presented with a "debt" that she must pay. Often the condition for leaving prostitution is the obligation to bring another girl in her place.
- This is most often organized by the migrants themselves. The girls live in the same apartments as they work. Rarely do any of them have contact with the outside world or work on the road, or make their own arrangements with clients. They have no one to turn to for help. They are kept there with the help of psychological violence, threats that their family will be told what they have been doing. They also humiliate them, saying, 'Who will need you like this, where will you go?
Abdullaev Timurlan Shabdanbekovich
According to Arina, although the volunteers of "Alternative" have not identified any direct facts of corruption or connivance on the part of the police in the case of migrant prostitutes, they assume that they are likely to take place.
The migrant prostitutes interviewed by Izvestia's correspondent did not know anything about the "roof". Amina, for example, specified that she works as an "individual" and that she has not had any serious extreme situations, so she has not sought protection from anyone. Perhaps Amina is not aware of the patronage, as Marika is in charge of organizational issues, but her senior partner did not want to talk about it with the client.
A creche in Lublino
The position of the "individualka" is undoubtedly more privileged, compared to the majority of migrant women who work "in salons". They give away about half of all the money they earn, says Amina. At the same time, such girls, she believes, "feel safer.
Izvestiya managed to study the second category of Central Asian sex workers by going to the address of a brothel in Lublino. To search for them, they only needed to enter the relevant parameters on a specialized service. A dispatcher answered the phone again and explained how to get to the establishment. It was located on the fourth floor of an apartment building, in a spacious two-room apartment with old furniture and modest repairs.
The Izvestiya correspondent was met by a young girl from Central Asia in a black tracksuit. When she heard that someone had come to see her "just to talk," she decided to call a friend. A few minutes later, five migrants entered the room at once. One of them responded more readily than the others to the opportunity to talk and invited her into the room with her.
Zarina said that she had only been working for a few months. According to her, she has three children. The eldest is already 18 years old. She herself is over 35. Her husband died in the north of Russia, where he was working on a construction site on a rotational basis. All of Zarina's partners (there are five of them in the apartment) have roughly the same life situations - no husbands, but children. Some of them tried to find jobs in other spheres, but in the end they returned to their previous earnings.
Like Amina, Zarina learned about the possibility of earning money in prostitution from an acquaintance. The price of an hour of intimacy with her is 3,000 rubles, of which Zarina is left with only 600 rubles, plus tips and "additional services".
- In a day I earn 3-4 thousand rubles net. We don't pay for housing, I send most of the money home. I have enough to live on for now," said the interlocutor of "Izvestia.
According to another girl from the same "salon", such working conditions are not the worst. In Moscow, there are places where the price tag per hour is less than 3 thousand rubles, and the girls get no more than 400 rubles in hand.
When asked why she does not want to work as an "individual", Zarina confirmed that she feels safer that way. There are two video cameras in the hallway of the apartment. At the first call, the "guards" are ready to come. Zarina prefers not to know who is behind them, the dispatchers, and how many "parlors" they have in their control.
- There have been problems. When I was here, people sniffed, got stoned, and pulled out a knife. But I somehow solved everything with affection. It would probably be a bit scary without security at all," says the brothel worker.
Zarina's clients are mostly non-Slavs. There are also regulars. The dispatchers try to distribute the orders evenly among all of them. The apartment even created the feeling of a passing yard. First, a hairdresser came to the girls in front of the Izvestia correspondent and cut their hair right in the apartment. A couple of girls from another "salon" came to cut their hair. Then clients began to come. And the prostitutes did not care to divorce them among themselves. A courier came by to deliver food.
Since the Izvestia correspondent visited both sex establishments during the day on weekdays, few of the residents of the neighboring apartments were at home. Most of them did not even suspect that there was a brothel nearby. Only one woman with a baby stroller admitted that she knew about it, but dismissed the journalist's questions.
According to judicial statistics, the number of criminal cases on the organization of prostitution and illegal migration is growing in Russia. In 2023, 315 people were convicted under Part 1 of Article 241 of the Criminal Code, 23 received real prison sentences, 114 received suspended sentences, and another 161 were fined. In 2022, 309 people were convicted under this article, in 2021 - 212. Under the more severe part. 3 of Art. 322 of the Criminal Code in 2023, 257 people were sentenced, 226 of them to real imprisonment. In 2022 225 persons were convicted, in 2021 - 160.
To hold a person liable under such articles, it is necessary to prove direct intent, says Tatyana Zavyalova, a partner at Leges Bureau and a member of the Russian Bar Association. In other words, the investigation must argue that the suspect was aware of his involvement in organizing prostitution.
- If law enforcement agencies prove the direct intent of the landlord, that he knowingly knew and facilitated prostitution, did it systematically and/or received money for it, in addition to rent, the risk of criminal liability is high," Zavyalova stated.
Lawyer Ekaterina Kutuzova agrees with her.
- If real estate is used for illegal migrants, the landlord can also be held liable for facilitating illegal migration if it can be proved that he knew that the residents were in Russia illegally and encouraged their stay," she adds.
In both cases, it is important that law enforcement agencies have evidence that the landlord at least showed a significant degree of awareness of what was going on.
- It is important to note that ignorance of illegal activity can be a mitigating factor, but in any case, a landlord must do due diligence when renting out a property and check the relevant documents," the lawyer reminds.
The owner or landlord may be held criminally liable on an equal footing with criminals as an accomplice, emphasizes lawyer Ilya Vasilchuk. In accordance with part 5 of Art. 33 of the CC an accomplice is a person who assisted in committing a crime, including "by providing means or instruments of committing a crime or by removing obstacles, as well as a person who promised in advance to conceal the criminal, means or instruments of committing a crime, traces of a crime or objects obtained by criminal means, as well as a person who promised in advance to purchase or sell such objects".
"In determining the owner's liability, his actions as a bona fide landlord will be relevant: whether the lease (rental) agreement was concluded, whether payment was made under it (including whether taxes were deducted), whether the landlord showed sufficient diligence in concluding the agreement (whether he found out the tenant's actual goals), whether he checked with the required frequency how the leased premises were used."
According to Vasilchuk, a safer way of renting out real estate may be the use of a specialized agency or aggregator, since in this case the responsibility, including criminal responsibility, will be borne by the person providing intermediary services on a professional basis.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
