Moscow, January 18: A prominent Belarusian escort, who has held sessions across the world as a "sex coach", was detained in Moscow on Thursday. The arrest of Anastasia Vashukevich assumes significance as she had claimed to have "evidence of Russian meddling" in the 2016 US presidential elections. In one of her Instagram posts last year, Vashukevich said she is possession of 16 hours of audio recordings which could establish Moscow's intervention in the presidential polls which saw Donald Trump emerging victorious.

Vashukevich, who also goes by the name of Nastya Rybka, was arrested along with three other Russian citizens as soon as she landed in Moscow. The four of them were deported to Russia from the Kingdom of Thailand, where they were charged of working without a permit or visa. John Gauger 'Rigged 2 Polls in Favour of Donald Trump', Was Paid by Michael Cohen: Report.

Among those held in Moscow include Alexander Kirillov, her associate who organised the sex-training sessions in the Thai city of Pattaya. Kirillov's wife Kristina told Russian news agency Interfax that Vashukevich was planning to move to the Belarus city of Minsk immediately after landing in Moscow.

The Russian authorities, however, intercepted the escort and took her into custody on "inducement to prostitution" charge.

Vashukevich was held in Pattaya since February last year, after her work visa expired. Over the past 11 months, she had sent online petitions to the US, seeking asylum.

In several of her Instagram videos, the Belarusian sex-worker reiterated the claim of having strong evidence of the Russian top brass interfering in the American presidential polls. The clips shared by her was also used to by Russian opposition leader and anti-corruption activist Aleksei A. Navalny to target the Vladimir Putin regime.

Among the most intriguing videos released by Vashukevich so far, one of the clips showed former Russian deputy prime minister Sergei E. Prikhodko discussing Washington-Moscow ties with Oleg Deripaska, a billionaire with ties to the Kremlin. Incidentally, Deripaska is a also a former business associate of Paul Manafort, President Trump’s onetime campaign chairman.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 18, 2019 04:11 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).