(CNN) – A self-styled “sex coach” claims she can prove Russian meddling in the U.S. election.
But the problem is, she’s in jail in Thailand, and said she can’t talk unless the U.S. gets her out of prison.
Anastasia Vashukevich, a relentlessly self-promoting 21-year-old, describes herself as a seductress.
With the social media stage name “Nastya Rybka,” the Belarus-born woman claims to have evidence of Russian meddling in the U.S. election.
The question: Is this a desperate ploy to get out of jail or, as her friend claims, is this young woman truly in danger because she knows too much?
"First, they are in danger, second, they have the information and third, we are afraid of their lives. Really afraid of their lives. We don't know what's going to happen," said Maria Skulbeda, a friend of Vashukevich’s.
For days, Vashukevich and several Russian friends have been held at a jail in the capital of Thailand, where visitors are not allowed to bring cameras.
Talking through the bars of the loud, hot and chaotic jail, Vashukevich said that she witnessed meetings between the Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska and at least three Americans, whom she refused to name.
Vashukevich claims they discussed plans to affect the U.S. elections, but she wouldn't give any further information because she fears she could be deported back to Russia.
Her claims might not hold much water if it wasn’t for photos published on her Instagram account of herself and Deripaska, who was a one-time business partner of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort.
Manafort has pleaded not guilty to charges related to money laundering and other alleged crimes discovered during the investigation into Russian meddling.
Vashukevich also posted footage on Instagram showing Deripaska on board his private yacht, meeting Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Prikhodko. The two powerful Russian men were overheard in one video discussing U.S.-Russian relations.
Vashukevich also wrote about the meeting using altered names in a book.
Deripaska denies meddling in the U.S. election and said Vashukevich was never his mistress.
“This is clearly an attempt by Anastasia Vashukevich to politicize the accusations of the Thai police,” a spokesman for Deripaska said.
Last month, Vashukevich was in Thailand with Alexander Kirillov, a fellow Russian self-described sex coach, running a week-long sex training course that teaches, among other things, tips for dating.
On the last day, Thai police burst into the hotel, arresting Vashukevich, Kirillov and eight others for working without a permit.
Ukrainian-American Pavlo Yunko traveled from New York to attend the course.
“I was there just to have a good time,” Yunko said.
And then the police showed up.
In the days that followed, Yunko said he hand-delivered a letter from the sex teacher to the U.S. embassy in Bangkok, requesting asylum in exchange for recordings Vashukevich said she made of alleged Russian government crimes.
An embassy spokesperson said since Vashukevich is not a U.S. citizen, her case is a matter for Thai authorities.
Supporters now deliver food to their friends in jail. Meanwhile, Vashukevich’s offers to help U.S. investigators have apparently gone unheard.
The jailed seductress and her fellow sex teacher recognize soon they may be deported back to Russia.
None of the recordings and photos that Vashukevich claims to possess have been made public.
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