Two sex workers at the center of #RussiaGate allegations against a top Moscow official request U.S. asylum, saying their lives are in danger

The “sex trainer” of the woman who leaked photos and videos of oligarch Oleg Deripaska and Deputy Prime Minister Sergey Prikhodko meeting aboard a yacht in August 2016 is asking the U.S. government for political asylum. “Alex Leslie” (Alexander Kirillov) is currently under arrest in Bangkok for illegal sex work, and reportedly faces extradition to Russia, where he’s named in a lawsuit by Deripaska for violations of the tycoon’s privacy.

Leslie says he and his “student,” “Nastya Rybka” (Anastasia Vashukevich), have “valuable information for the United States,” but they face death, he claims, if they’re returned to Russia. Leslie’s appeal to U.S. officials was first reported by the government-funded media outlet RT.

Nastya Rybka previously appealed to “the American press,” claiming that she is ready to reveal “missing puzzle pieces” regarding Russian state officials’ role in Moscow’s 2016 presidential election meddling. Rybka says she wants U.S. asylum for herself and several other Russians detained in Thailand for “sex training.”

What’s all the fuss about?

In early February 2018, Alexey Navalny published an investigative report based on Rybka’s social media posts and a book she wrote, accusing Deripaska of bribing Prikhodko, and possibly meeting to discuss Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Rybka’s “sex trainer,” Alex Leslie, also shared details about Rybka’s meetings with Deripaska, who won an injunction that led Russia’s federal censor to ban the sharing of the photos and videos.

In late February, Thai police arrested Rybka, Lesie, and dozens of Russian sex tourists, each of whom reportedly paid $625 to participate in his program, on the island of Ko Lan.