'Nastya Rybka,' Detained In Thailand And Alleging Russian Threat, Seeks U.S. Asylum

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'Nastya Rybka,' Detained In Thailand And Alleging Russian Threat, Seeks U.S. Asylum
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

URL: https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-rybkagat ... 68161.html
Category: Politics
Published: February 28, 2018

Description: The woman at the center of Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny's recent report about an alleged meeting between billionaire Oleg Deripaska and Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Prikhodko has asked for political asylum from the U.S. Embassy in Thailand, where she and an associate were detained after a police raid on a "sex training" seminar.

Anastasia Vashukevich, who goes by the name Nastya Rybka, and her partner Aleksandr Kirillov -- known as Alex Lesley -- were detained by Thai police in the city of Pattaya on February 25 along with eight other Russian nationals and are expected to be deported to Russia within 48 hours, their representative, Ivan Yunko, told RFE/RL on February 28. Yunko provided RFE/RL with photographs of the handwritten letter he said Vashukevich, Kirillov, and the others sent to the U.S. Embassy in Thailand. In the letter, scrawled in English and addressed to "USA Consul," Kirillov says that he has been "repressed by Russia" because he provided material for Navalny's report alleging a meeting on a yacht between Deripaska and Prikhodko, a longtime former senior foreign policy adviser to President Vladimr Putin. "We ask you political asylim (sic) and help us and protect us as quickly as possible, because we have very important information for USA and we risk our lives very much," the letter says. In it, Kirillov claims to have photographed and taped evidence of "crymes of [the] Russian government," and promises to give the evidence -- which he does not describe in any detail -- to the United States "if you help us." There was no immediate comment from the U.S. Embassy. Belarus-born Vashukevich, who claims to have had an affair with Deripaska, was the main source for a report published by Navalny's Anticorruption Foundation on February 8 that drew on photographs and video posted on her social-media accounts in 2016. Navalny says the report added to evidence of corruption among allies of Putin, who is widely expected to secure a new six-year term in a March 18 presidential election. Navalny has been barred from the ballot due to a financial-crimes conviction he contends was based on fabricated charges. The material in Navalny's report appears to include part of a conversation between Deripaska and Prikhodko about U.S.-Russian relations, which have been severely strained over issues including Russia's alleged interference in the U.S. presidential election in 2016. In a video that Vashukevich posted on February 27, which appeared to have been filmed in a Thai police car, she claims that she can reveal details about Russia's alleged meddling in the election. "I am a witness and the only missing link in the chain related to Russia and elections in the United States, in other words in that long chain [linking] Oleg Deripaska, Prikhodko, Putin, and [U.S. President Donald] Trump," she said. In exchange for U.S. help and protection, she said, she is "ready to provide...information to the United States, Europe, or any other country that can bail me out of Thai jail," Vashukevich said. Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on February 28 that there is no connection between a visit to Thailand by Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of Putin's advisory Security Council, and Vashukevich's detainment there. Patrushev, who headed Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) between 1999 and 2008, arrived in Bangkok on February 27. Peskov said any speculation about a link between the two developments is "absurd."

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Russian tycoon-linked model & her sex coach offer sordid secrets of elite in exchange for US asylum
RT

URL: https://www.rt.com/news/420049-sex-coac ... oligarchs/
Category: Politics
Published: February 28, 2018

Description: A young woman from Belarus and her coach in the art of seduction have pleaded with the US to rescue them from a Thai jail and grant them political asylum. They’re offering dirty secrets on ‘the Russian elite’ in return. “Thai police have caught us and now they plan to extradite us to Russia. We ask you to give us political asylum and protect us as soon as possible because we have information very important for the USA and risk our lives,” a letter sent to the American embassy in Thailand, which was obtained by RT, says.

The two individuals involved in the saga of sex, power and a dash of Russian politics are Anastasia Vashukevich and Aleksandr Kirillov, who prefer to be called by their pen names – Nastya Rybka (‘Little Fish’) and Alex Lesley. Both originally come from Belarus and are said to have been arrested in Thailand this week alongside several Russian citizens. The group was detained at a hotel in Pattaya, where an alleged ‘sex training course’ was being held. The Thai authorities said they arrested the instructors of the course for alleged visa violations and working without permits. Rybka and her coach were both involved in a recent scandal in Russia. The young woman claims to have used the skills she learned from Lesley to seduce Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska, and that she had footage and photos from a private party to back this claim. Her story was recently used by opposition politician Alexey Navalny to accuse Deripaska of having corrupt ties with the Russian government. His reasoning was that Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergey Prikhodko, who was shown in the footage, must have received an invitation to Deripaska’s yacht as a bribe for political favors. Deripaska’s response was a lawsuit for breach of privacy and a threat to take Navalny to court for slander. The young model was relatively unknown before her involvement with Deripaska, but Lesley has a record of controversy. A self-styled pickup guru turned sex coach, he faked his own death in 2016 in an apparent attempt to win publicity. Last year he got tangled up in the leaking of nude photos of ballet dancer and socialite Anastasiya Volochkova. On Tuesday, Rybka published a video in which she claimed to have secret information about Russia’s alleged involvement in the 2016 presidential election. “I am the sole witness and the missing link in the Russian meddling in the US election. In exchange for help from the American secret services I am prepared to provide the needed information to America or Europe or whichever country bails me out of the Thai prison,” she said. There seems to be no rush to rescue either of the pair so far.

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‘Sex seminar’ model who promised to spill information on Donald Trump and Russia will get out of a Thailand jail
South China Morning Post

URL: http://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-s ... tion-trump
Category: Politics
Published: February 28, 2018

Description: Anastasia Vashukevich, aka ‘Nastya Rybka’, previously hit the news when she filmed herself on a yacht with a Russian oligarch and Russia’s deputy prime minister
Thailand will deport and “blacklist” a group of 10 Russians who organised sexual training courses in the seaside resort city of Pattaya. They have been charged with working and staying in country illegally and will be banned from entering Thailand again after they are deported, Bangkok Post, reported Wednesday. Among them, a self-styled model and sex expert linked to Russian oligarchs and the Kremlin, had earlier promised to reveal information about links between Russia and US President Donald Trump to get out of jail. Anastasia Vashukevich, aka “Nastya Rybka”, an escort-service worker from Belarus who previously filmed herself on yacht trip with Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska and Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Prikhodko, was detained in Thailand over the weekend in a police raid. Vashukevich, who was hauled in after the raid on her “sex training” seminar, published Instagram videos while in custody on Tuesday asking US journalists and intelligence agencies to help her. “I am the only witness and the missing link in the connection between Russia and the US elections – the long chain of Oleg Deripaska, Prikhodko, Manafort, and Trump,” she said in a live Instagram video on Tuesday. “In exchange for help from US intelligence services and a guarantee of my safety, I am prepared to provide the necessary information to America or to Europe or to the country which can buy me out of Thai prison,” she added. The video was apparently shot as she was driven in an open-air police van through the Thai resort city of Pattaya Deripaska, with whom Vashukevich said she had an affair, used to employ former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, who has been charged in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia collusion probe. But Vashukevich provided no evidence on Tuesday to back up the claim that she had new information to offer related to the investigation.

A later post to her Instagram account showed her sitting on the floor of what was described as a Thai jail. She wrote in Russian that she was sick. Vashukevich said in her video that she had already given an interview to US broadcaster NBC. Representatives for Vashukevich and Deripaska didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. The Russian Foreign Ministry declined to comment. Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny made Vashukevich famous last month after he broadcast old footage from her Instagram account showing an August 2016 yacht trip with Deripaska and Prikhodko. Navalny used the footage to allege that Deripaska, a metals magnate, had bribed Prikhodko, one of Russia’s most influential government officials, with the luxury getaway accompanied by women from an escort service. Navalny also speculated that Deripaska and Prikhodko may have served as a link between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign in 2016, though Vashukevich’s videos offered no proof. According to emails described to The Washington Post last year, Manafort – who once worked for Deripaska – directed an associate to offer Deripaska “private briefings” about Trump’s presidential campaign. A Deripaska spokeswoman said he was never offered such briefings. Prikhodko called Navalny a “political loser” whose investigation combined “the possible and the impossible.” But Vashukevich claimed on Tuesday that she’d been arrested on orders of Russian officials as payback for her video of Deripaska and Prikhodko and that she expected to be sent to Russia, where she’d be jailed again. “Please USA save us from Russia!” said a post in English on her Instagram account. “All this cases are political repressions!” Coincidentally or not, one of Russia’s most important security and intelligence officials was also in Thailand on Tuesday. Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev, former head of the Federal Security Service, held talks in Bangkok Tuesday on the security of Russian tourists, RIA reported.

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‘Russiagate' guppy caught in Pattaya sex class dragnet
Bangkok Post

URL: https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opi ... ss-dragnet
Category: Politics
Published: February 28, 2018

Description: What ties the “Russiagate” election hacking conspiracy to the recent sex class bust in the City of Sin? Vladimir Putin’s bette noir, Paul Manafort’s “patron” and a "former" lady of the night cum accidental spy, it seems. Early on Monday, news broke that 10 “Russians” running a seminar in amorous liaisons had been arrested at an undisclosed luxury Pattaya hotel. The trainees, who had shelled out 20,000 baht to learn the story of the birds and the skeeze, were reportedly left in quite a state of agitation upon officers busting in for the sake of syllabus interruptus. Leaving with lighter wallets and heavy … hearts, the 43 participants were let off the hook, though they might be forced to live the rest of their lives without being certified for unlawful carnal knowledge. But the 10 instructors, all showing sophisticated sartorial skills in their “sex animator” tees, found themselves in hot water, one for having overstayed their visa, three for backdoor entry and all for plying their trade without work permits.



But while the story of Russians allegedly engaged in shenanigans in a city Thai authorities have confirmed has no sex industry will surely shock all and sundry, there’s an additional wrinkle to the sordid tale that’s flown under the Thai media radar. Enter Anastasia Vashukevich, aka Nastya “Rybka” ("small fish"), a 23-year-old Belarussian-born former escort who’s currently embroiled in a tale of internet censorship and international political intrigue. Rybka, with her “sex trainer” Alex Lesley, were filmed being taken into custody by Pattaya police. Vladimir Sosnov, the consulate department head at the Russian Embassy in Thailand, told Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency that Rybka had, in fact, been detained. A police source who swore the list of detainees had not be released by the cops confirmed Lesley “was definitely there”. Upon being tried in Thailand, both will be deported to Russia. So who exactly are the libertine duo? Rybka made her name in Russia for authoring A Diary About Seducing a Billionaire, a tell-all tale which was published in Oct 2016. She’s something of an anti-feminist, stripping in support of sexual harassment. Lesley, Rybka’s guru and self-described “Putin foe” - though only a farcical foe who, in the politics of spectacle, makes Putin look good by contrast - is the esteemed author of the great Russian epic Life Without Panties. The 36-year-old Belarusian-born mathematician turned orgasm expert had vowed to run in the March 18 Russian presidential poll, but failed to submit registration documents to the Central Election Commission. Lesley, who claims to head up a scientific research centre at Russia's skim-off-the top Skolkovo innovation hub, moonlights as a PUA coach for Russian girls, who clearly need a helping hand in meeting men, said no one ever. He claims to train women in the Pavlovean techniques needed to catch a dog of any income bracket. He’d once even landed Rybka in the clink for commanding her to drop trou and get down with a stranger on a central Moscow street. The stunt was later said to be a marketing ploy for Lesley’s public etiquette course. From here, the story gets stranger. In Rybka’s book, the former escort from Babruysk details what appears to be her “relationship” with Oleg Deripaska, outgoing chief of the Russian metals giant Rusal. Deripaska, apart from being among a trio of oligarchs Russian President Vladimir Putin regularly leans on, has also been described as the “patron” for former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. Manafort, who secured a $10 million annual contract with Deripaska in 2006 to “greatly benefit the Putin government,” according to an AP report, a decade later allegedly offered to provide Deripaska personal briefings about the 2016 presidential election. He is currently facing 32 indictments, including charges of conspiracy and money laundering, for his role in the “Russiagate” scandal. So what does Rybka have to do with any of this? Well, in this digital first, privacy last era, she posted videos of herself on a yacht registered to Deripaska’s mother. That boat, incidentally, was cruising off the coast of Norway in August 2016, a month after Manafort is said to have proposed the private briefings. But in clips posted online, Rybka, who said she’d been hired by a modeling agency to find her sea legs on the pleasure boat, proved more adept than the Five Eyes at digging up dirt on the Russians. In an act of réclame turned accidental spy craft, she not only posted photos of herself snuggling up to the hard-nosed industrialist, but also videos of Deripaska speaking with Sergei Prikhodko, a deputy prime minister, top foreign policy adviser and long-time confidante of Putin. Rybka, totally unaware she could be documenting a global conspiracy between an oligarch and the man he called “papa”, texted her sex guru for advice. Lesley, who comes off a bit like Chad Feldheimer in Burn After Reading, demands that she “tape everything!” so that he can properly guide her. For some reason, opposition leader and Putin’s own Voldemort, Alexi Navalny, took interest in the confederacy of dunces. Based on Rybka’s videos, flight records and geo-location, on Feb 8 Navalny released a report claiming that Deripaska had essentially bribed Prikhodko on the yacht, where the two met to “solve the issue with America”. There, the aluminium magnate allegedly turning over Manafort’s briefings on the Trump campaign. When Navalny’s report surfaced, Deripaska cried foul. Prikhodko called Navalny a “political loser,” suggesting the pair settle their dispute like men. The Kremlin viewed the report as a ploy by Navalny, who’s been banned from running for office after a politically motivated conviction, to discredit the election, which Putin is all but guaranteed to win. Navalny has long called for a boycott of that Potemkin poll. Russia’s internet watchdog ordered Navalny, Rybka, YouTube and Instagram to take down the offending content, saying it violated Deripaska’s privacy rights. Rybka immediately complied, Navalny initially did not, although he eventually changed his tune to get his popular website unblocked. As for the sex guru Lesley, he - along with Rybka - have been threatened with legal action for their role in the privacy breach. And the plot has only thickened since Rybka was released on bail. On Tuesday, she sent out a video appeal to the "US media and intelligence agencies", saying she had been arrested on “orders from Bangkok”. Rybka claimed she had the unreleased audio and video from the yacht liaison that would provide the missing puzzle pieces in the Russian-Trump election scandal. She expressed fear for her life, saying: "If you find me alive in a Thai jail, I’d be happy to talk.” On the same day, RA-96023, an aircraft in the Russian presidential fleet, arrived in Bangkok. Russian media is buzzing that former FSB head and current secretary of the Security Council of Russia, Nikolai Patrushev, arrived to sort the situation out...one way or the other. So, in short, two Belarusian bull artists wanting nothing more than money and fame in the Kardashian era ended up selling sex lessons in Pattaya after accidentally igniting a tale of international intrigue a few weeks prior. Now this small fish from a small pond might end up in the farang flying club for playing with fire as the new Cold War heats up.