Belarusian Model Charged with Solicitation and Conspiracy Deported from Thailand

 

PATTAYA – A Belarusian model escort who has spent nearly a year behind bars in Thailand after claiming to have audio recordings linking Russia with President Trump’s election will be deported from Thailand on Thursday.

Anastasia Vashukevich, and seven others arrested with her pleaded guilty to charges of solicitation and conspiracy on Tuesday in the Pattaya Provincial Court. The court sentenced them to three years in prison but reduced their sentences to time served.

The defendants, who included five Russians and three Belarusians, had faced up to 10 years on charges of indecency, conspiracy and belonging to a secret society.

It remains unclear whether the damaging information that Ms. Vashukevich claimed to possess actually exists.

The guilty pleas appeared to close a chapter in the long-running drama involving a powerful Russian tycoon, a seduction plot and questions about the Kremlin’s interference in the 2016 United States election.

Ms. Vashukevich and Mr. Alexander Kirillov were initially arrested on visa and work permit charges. But prosecutors later brought the far more serious charges of indecency, conspiracy and belonging to a secret society.

They pleaded not guilty to the charges in August but changed their pleas this week as their trial was about to begin.

The Thai immigration chief, Surachate Hakparn, said Wednesday that the group had been transferred to the main detention center in Bangkok on Tuesday evening and that they would be deported Thursday afternoon.