Russian military gigolo ring
DENIS SINYAKOV/AFP Russian prosecutors are investigating claims that young conscripts are being forced into prostitution by senior officers for a “network of clients” in St. Petersburg. The older officers then keep the cash for themselves, according to the accusations. While a spokeswoman for the human rights group Soldiers’ Mothers called forced prostitution in the Russian army ...
DENIS SINYAKOV/AFP
Russian prosecutors are investigating claims that young conscripts are being forced into prostitution by senior officers for a “network of clients” in St. Petersburg. The older officers then keep the cash for themselves, according to the accusations. While a spokeswoman for the human rights group Soldiers’ Mothers called forced prostitution in the Russian army “not at all unusual,” the current investigations stem from the particularly brutal account of one 20-year-old:
He said he was forced into male prostitution by fellow soldiers who beat him and demanded that he earn money for them,’’ [Mothers spokeswoman Lyubov] Yezheleva said. She said the conscript was serving with the interior troops unit No. 3727, in the center of St. Petersburg near the renowned Hermitage art museum.
Accounts like this (another example being a notorious case last year where doctors had to amputate a soldier’s genitals and legs after a beating) have made Russian military service deeply unpopular. The only thing saving the Army is required conscription, which applies to all Russian men between 18 and 27. Typically, however, all but 9 percent get out of it for college, health issues, or simple bribery.
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