Russian-Ukrainian network of “elite” prostitution “covered” in Paris
Officers of the Brigade for Combating Procuring at the Paris Criminal Police detained nine alleged members of a criminal group that organized “meetings” between solvent “clients” and women from Eastern Europe. According to RFI, several French media reported this citing police sources.
According to AFP, the organizers of this “family” pimping network (among those detained are three married couples) arranged documents and legally brought women to France. Le Parisien clarifies that the police know of at least “35 escort girls from Russia and Ukraine.”
The “workers” came for two to three months — likely on 90-day tourist visas — and then returned home. The women were “displayed” on two websites — “charme russe” (“Russian charm”) and “amour russe” (“Russian love”) — and offered for “reservation” via SMS. An hour of “love” was sold for 250 euros, a night for 1000.
Later, the police found that the servers of these sites were located in Cyprus and Israel. “Investigators believe that on average, a thousand messages passed through the servers per day, which gives an idea of the scale of this ‘business,’” a law enforcement source told Le Parisien.
During searches, police found a counterfeit bill detector and 115,000 euros in cash at the detainees’ premises, but this is likely just “crumbs” accumulated after the previous transfer of earnings to Russia. According to police, a 31-year-old resident of St. Petersburg regularly came to Paris for the money. Without leaving Roissy-Charles de Gaulle Airport, the courier picked up the cash and flew back on the next flight.
For “romantic meetings” between wealthy Parisians and visitors to the capital with bearers of “Russian charm” and “Russian love,” the pimps rented apartments through Airbnb for short periods — so as not to arouse suspicion from residents and “not attract police attention,” investigators believe.
According to Le Parisien, the pimps mainly chose apartments in the most bourgeois districts of Paris — the 7th and 16th — where, incidentally, wealthy expats from Russia, Ukraine, and other former Soviet republics prefer to live. However, wealthy businessmen, heirs, and politicians from France and the rest of the world also mostly live there. 250 or 1000 euros is not a sum for these people, especially when it comes to “Russian charm” and “Russian love.” After all, as Vladimir Putin said, Russian “girls with reduced social responsibility” are “unquestionably the best in the world.”
It is unlikely that fines will scare rich people either. Recall that in April 2016, France adopted a law “On strengthening the fight against the system of prostitution.” According to the law, the offender is now not the prostitute but her client. The law provides for a fine for the client of 1,500 euros (if caught for the first time) and 3,750 euros for each subsequent offense.