Missing young model has been found ‘working as an escort’
Maria Sazonova, 21, disappeared with a student friend after telling her mum she had got a bar job to earn money for a new iPhone.
A mass search was organised in Russia after the pair failed to contact their families for a week.
They disappeared amid concerns that young women in the area were being exploited by sex traffickers.
However, on Monday, Russian embassy officials confirmed that Maria and friend Viktoria Matveyeva, 20, had been found in Jordan.
Friends have now confirmed the pair – known as Masha and Vika – are ‘alive and well’ after being detained allegedly working as escorts.
Dzhennet Mimun, director of Moscow-based Creepy Sweets model agency, for which Maria has worked, said: ‘She was arrested for providing escort services.’
Mimun believed the two women were fooled into becoming ‘sex slaves’, possibly by a wealthy Bahrain man Maria had previously described as her ‘fiance’.
She added: ‘Maria had two jobs, she was a model with us and she also had a job in Burlesque striptease club. She worked both in Moscow and Yekaterinburg.
‘But she suddenly got some rich ‘fiance’ and became very secretive.’
Maria also said ahead of her trip that she was planning to earn money in the Middle East.
The women first travelled to Bahrain before flying to Jordan, it is reported in Moscow.
A Bahrain man identified by a Moscow newspaper as being in touch with Maria – named as Hamza Z – denied knowing the two women.
Speaking to Komsomolskaya Pravda, he said: ‘There are many Russian girls among my friends. Many beautiful Russian girls come to Bahrain.
‘They have different jobs here. But I have not heard names Vika and Masha, I know nothing about them. I don’t remember such girls.’
The Russian embassy in Amman confirmed that the women were deported from Jordan late on Monday.
Post a Comment