Escort Says Audio Recordings Prove Russian Meddling in U.S. Election
Source: nytimes
Richard C. Paddock
March 5, 2018
BANGKOK A Belarusian escort with close ties to a powerful Russian oligarch said from behind bars in Bangkok on Monday that she had more than 16 hours of audio recordings that could help shed light on Russian meddling in United States elections.
The escort, Anastasia Vashukevich, said she would hand over the recordings if the United States granted her asylum. She faces criminal charges and deportation to Belarus after coming under suspicion of working in Thailand without a visa at a sex-training seminar in the city of Pattaya.
Ms. Vashukevich, who described herself as close to the Russian aluminum tycoon Oleg V. Deripaska, said that audio recordings she made in August 2016 included discussions he had about the United States presidential election with people she declined to identify.
Mr. Deripaska, a billionaire with close ties to Russias president, Vladimir V. Putin, also has business ties to Paul J. Manafort, President Trumps former campaign chairman. Mr. Manafort is under investigation by Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel looking into the campaigns connections to Russia.
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Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/05/world/asia/nastya-rybka-trump-putin.html
We should bring her here and see what she has:
If America gives me protection, I will tell everything I know, Ms. Vashukevich said on Monday. I am afraid to go back to Russia. Some strange things can happen......
Link to tweet
Kirillov, left, the organizer of a sex seminar in Thailand, and Anastasia Vashukevich, center, a Belarusian escort, spoke to journalists from a detention center in Bangkok. Ms. Vashukevich claims to have recordings that prove Russian meddling in the American election. Sakchai Lalit/Associated Press
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)Assuming he thinks she actually has anything?
TranssexualKaren
(364 posts)She would have to have some extremely incriminating evidence to be useful.
Grins
(7,226 posts)democratisphere
(17,235 posts)get a hold of her. Obtaining this evidence could be crucial to Mueller's case(s).
DetlefK
(16,423 posts)She will mysteriously die in jail without ever seeing a court-room.
LonePirate
(13,429 posts)Mueller will need to go after her on his own and hopefully she cooperates, provided any evidence she had isnt already destroyed or compromised.
thesquanderer
(11,990 posts)Golden Raisin
(4,612 posts)"falling" from a 4th story window, or dining on polonium-filled blini.
bluestarone
(17,012 posts)BumRushDaShow
(129,339 posts)gibraltar72
(7,508 posts)that this has been out there for about a week now. If there is any credibility why is she not now in our custody, or dead?
riversedge
(70,273 posts).....Ms. Vashukevich described being held in a crowded cell with more than 100 women and only three toilets. She said a Thai official had asked her to sign a paper saying that she believed she would be safe in Russia, but that she had refused.
In general, people seeking asylum must apply in the country where they hope to take refuge.
A spokeswoman for the American Embassy in Bangkok said she was aware of the arrests but declined to discuss the case or any asylum request.
Mr. Kirillov said that he believed publicity would help protect them. I think the press makes us a little bit safer because if they killed us in the prison, everyone would know, he said.
uncle ray
(3,157 posts)i can't remember her name, and can't find it in my browser history, but it was a different girl last week. the circumstances are similar, so they must have been part of the same group.
LisaL
(44,974 posts)uncle ray
(3,157 posts)LisaL
(44,974 posts)watoos
(7,142 posts)She should pick another country, since she won't get it here.
Grins
(7,226 posts)What country likes the U.S. anymore?
Raven123
(4,862 posts)Assuming she is truthful, letting that cat out the bag is suicide.
brooklynite
(94,684 posts)Thailand has no particular incentive to release Ms. Vashukevich, and Mueller can't go out of his way to get her to talk without being released.