Escort Who Claims to Have Russian Secrets Faces New Charges in Thailand

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Anastasia Vashukevich, left, and her associate Alexander Kirillov, far right, after their arrest in Pattaya, Thailand, in February.

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Gemunu Amarasinghe/Associated Press

BANGKOK — A Belarusian escort jailed in Thailand who claims to have evidence of Russian meddling in United States elections faces new criminal charges of solicitation and conspiracy, the police said on Friday.

The escort, Anastasia Vashukevich, who says she had a brief affair with the powerful Russian aluminum tycoon Oleg V. Deripaska, was arrested in February with nine others at a sex training seminar in Pattaya, south of Bangkok. Most had been charged with working without a permit and were awaiting deportation.

The Pattaya police chief, Col. Apichai Krobpetch, said Friday that all 10 have now been charged with soliciting prostitution and conspiracy. He declined to provide details about the charges or to say who brought the case to the police.

Ms. Vashukevich, 27, who also goes by the name Nastya Rybka, gained notoriety in Russia after she joined a yacht trip with Mr. Deripaska in August 2016 as an escort and posted photos of the two of them together.

She also posted an audio recording of Mr. Deripaska discussing Russian-American relations with a deputy prime minister, Sergei E. Prikhodko. Both men are close to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.

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Source : Nytimes