CNN iReport

According to the UN International Panel for Struggle against Sexual

Exploitation, the Russian army is plagued with male prostitution. A

small amount of money is enough to find a Russian soldier-prostitute in

the center of Moscow.

Russian soldiers in a queue seemingly experiencing the discomfort of

conscripted participation Servicemen may become male prostitutes in the

Russian army for various reasons. There are young men who voluntarily

offer sexual favors to their homosexual clients; others are forced into

prostitution against their own will. Newcomers, especially those who

finished higher schools before joining the army, suffer from sexual

harassment more often than others. Brave soldiers try to protect their

honor and rights, although there is no one to help them: commanders and

military officials may often be involved in the sex business too.

"When I was standing on duty, two bullies came up to me and shoved

me into the stockroom, a soldier serving at one of Moscow's military

units recollects. They raped me there in turn. It was very painful and

revolting. It didn't take them much time to finish, but the next day I

started noticing other soldiers giving me strange looks. I instantly

realized that those bastards let everyone know what they had done to

me. An officer came up to me one day and said to me point-blank:

'Tomorrow you will to serve two clients.' I knew that if I said 'no'

then I would spend my last days spitting blood. But still, I told him

'no.' When the officer heard that, he pulled out pictures of me being

raped in the stockroom. 'If you don't serve the clients, you mother

will see these pictures' said he. I was forced into prostitution," the

soldier said.

Another serviceman, named only as Ilya,

became a male prostitute during his second month in the army. The young

man received a letter from his girlfriend. "The sergeant told me that

day that I would no longer need girls. He and three other men forced me

to go behind the barracks to the abandoned construction site. They made

me kneel their, tied me up to a lamppost and hit me several times in

the groin. The pain was so strong that I lost the will to fight them

back. They made me open my mouth and raped me. I don't remember how

long it continued. When I came to my senses I didn't want to live. I

was seriously thinking about committing suicide. I was shocked that the

rapists were visiting me regularly afterwards bringing fruit and vodka

for me. When it ended they made me a prostitute," Ilya said.

There were many incidents when soldiers prefer bid farewell to their

lives being unable to cope with humiliation. However, military

officials mostly say that such stories occur because of the unbalanced

state of mind of the soldiers.

Solder Aleksey I. from the town of Taganrog was also going to commit

suicide. He wrote a letter to his mother before: "Hello Mum. I have

been raped like a whore. I have decided to kill myself. Please forgive

me. I will hang myself, and nobody will call me a whore ever again. If

I find out that my younger brothers will serve in the army too, I will

curse you. I don't want to live like a faggot. I hate myself." The

man's attempt to commit suicide failed. He is now a patient of a

hospital for mentally unbalanced individuals.

Pimps in uniform aim at bringing a person down and humiliating him.

If they succeed, they make a soldier become either a passive or an

active male prostitute (an active one is more expensive). Prostitute

soldiers are divided into three groups in Russia: the secluded, the

street boys and the affiliated.

Street boys are the most common and cheapest male prostitutes in the

Russian army. They can be found in many places of Moscow during

weekends. When on a leave warrant, the street boys wander about the

capital looking for clients and offering sex services to them. They can

be basically found in the center of Moscow: on Tverskaya Street, on the

square in front of the Pushkinsky Cinema and in the Alexandrov Garden

near the Red Square. Sometimes they can be found on railway stations

too. They try to guess the sexual orientation of a potential client and

approach him asking for a cigarette or a little money. Sometimes they

ask to use a cell phone to make one single call home. Just a little

attention to such a soldier is enough to make him start seducing the

client. The conversation mostly ends with a quick oral action in a

toilet nearby.

"The street boys don't ask for much money. The majority of them come

to Moscow from Russia's provinces. They are ready to do anything for a

bowl of soup or a cigarette," a client (he asked to call him Igor)

said. "When they return to the military unit, they share their earnings

with bullies, who in their turn share with officers," the man said.

Unlike street boys, the secluded do not spend their time rambling

about Moscow and looking for clients. They gather in certain places of

which their potential clients know - for example the monument to heroes

of Plevna, otherwise known as Pleshka.

Pleshka is the most notorious place in the Moscow homosexual

environment. Gays can be spotted their all day long, although gay

prostitutes and their pimps appear in the evening time. Some of them

put on military uniform and pretend to be soldiers. Such a

'professional' asks for $300 USD, although a genuine military man on

Pleshka charges only $20-30 USD dollars.

The so-called affiliated army prostitutes make the biggest earnings

in comparison with the two of the above-mentioned groups. They 'serve'

in their own military units waiting for clients in the barracks.

Finding an agent to establish a contact with army prostitutes is

very easy. There are several websites on the Russian Internet that

carry quite a list of adequate advertisements. However, going on a gay

adventure in the military can be a risky endeavor. It is strongly

recommended not to show money to soldiers before sex. "If they see the

money they may kill you without giving it a second thought. Five

hundred rubles ($20) is a whole fortune in the army," a man who wished

to remain anonymous said.

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