Coronavirus Measures have Shut Down Half of Russia’s Bordellos, Sex Workers Union Head Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, April 8 – The restrictions Russian officials have imposed in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus have driven down demand for sexual services, closed half of the country’s bordellos, and increased the bribes police demand from prostitutes to avoid their arrest, Irina Maslova, head of the Silver Rose Sex Workers Movement.

            She tells MBK journalist Zoya Svetova that her group provides medical, psychological and legal assistance to many of those in her industry, a group that she and other specialists suggest numbers between three million and 4.5 million Russians at the present time (mbk-news.appspot.com/suzhet/polovina-bordelej-uzhe-zakrylas/).

            But because 80 percent of these have minor children or dependent relatives, the total share of Russians affected by the fate of this industry is much higher, making it unfortunate that the Russian justice ministry has twice refused to register the movement and continues to force it to operate as a strictly voluntary organization, she says.

            The government’s anti-coronavirus efforts, including its stay at home orders, “at a minimum,” she continues, have forced “half of the sex workers to leave or close down.”  In many cases, bordellos have been shuttered, and their workers are now either without income or on the streets with even less defense against abuse.

            The police have increased their raids against such places because they now can charge people employed by them not just with prostitution but with spreading the coronavirus by violating the quarantine. “And this means that the bribes which they have to pay are rising significantly,” Maslova says.

            She says that the number of clients has declined but that those who still seek out the sex workers now ask if the women or men have been tested for the coronavirus in much the same way that they had asked about testing for HIV/AIDS. Unfortunately, the existing arrangements for testing don’t provide a quick way of being able to tell clients what the situation is.

            Her union has responded in two ways. On the one hand, it has sought to inform those in this business how they can best protect themselves against the virus. And on the other, it has encouraged those who can to save money so that they can stay home or go on vacation. “No one knows how things are going to develop,” Maslova says.