Anastasia Vashukevich, the Belarusian escort who claimed to have evidence tying Oleg Deripaska to U.S. election interference, is now free from jail but will remain in Russia for the time being.
Vashukevich, also known as Nastya Rybka, and her partner, Alexander Kirillov, still face possible prostitution charges stemming from a “sex-training seminar” they held in Thailand last year, Kirillov’s lawyer Svetlana Sidorkina said in a phone interview.
The two had spent nine months behind bars in Thailand after a police raid on their seminar and were deported last week after they pleaded guilty. Russian authorities detained them after they landed in Moscow, alleging that they also violated Russian prostitution law.
Russian authorities have said they suspect her of forcing women into prostitution, a charge that carries a jail sentence of up to three years.
Vashukevich, who also worked as an escort, made headlines last year after video footage she posted to social media surfaced showing her on a yacht with Russian metals magnate Oleg Deripaska and a then-deputy prime minister. After her arrest in Thailand, she pleaded for U.S. help and said she had recordings documenting links between Deripaska and Donald Trump’s campaign. The claim was notable because Deripaska used to work with former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. But no recordings related to the campaign — or proof that they exist — have surfaced.
Vashukevich appeared in court Saturday and offered a public apology.
“There will be no more tapes or records about Oleg Deripaska,” she said. “I will stop compromising him, so he can relax.”
On Tuesday, police were expected to seek an extension of Vashukevich’s and Kirillov’s detention as the Russian authorities’ investigation continued. But instead, police told the court that the two could be released during the investigation.
“The investigators changed their decision,” Sidorkina said.
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The pair’s release came after Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko appeared to get involved. His spokeswoman told the Belarusian edition of the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper that he had ordered his diplomats to “immediately start working for the release of the Belarusian citizen.” A Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
On Monday, Deripaska posted on Instagram that he had gone “to fish” in Lake Baikal rather than attend the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. This appeared to be a pun. “Rybka” means “little fish” in Russian.
Model who claimed U.S.-Russia collusion evidence freed from jail in Moscow (WaPo)
Russia Frees Model Who Claimed Trump Secrets From Police Custody (Moscow Times)