The Russians in Pattaya

reader · February 10, 2019

Excerpted from South China Morning Post (10 Feb.)

Andrey Korneev (left) and Nazar Moroz at MixFight Pattaya. Photo: Claudia Hinterseer

It’s hard to imagine a building less in sync with its surroundings. In the crooked soi s (side-streets) of northern Pattaya, cluttered with motorbike taxis encircling steaming street-food stalls, All Saints Russian Orthodox Church may as well have come from outer space. Yet here it stands, in the middle of this quintessentially Thai streetscape – its bright white walls and bronze onion domes gleaming proudly in the ferocious afternoon sun.

This dissonance is even more pronounced inside, where the temperature seems to drop, silence descends and the bleached white light of the outside world is replaced by the flickering of dozens of candles. Murals depicting the gospels adorn the ceilings and walls, flanked by a mixture of Thai and Cyrillic script.

Most visit briefly but thousands have stayed, buying homes and starting businesses. There were 50,000 Russians on long-term visas in Pattaya in 2013, excluding Russian speakers from former Soviet states such as Belarus, Ukraine and Estonia. Their presence is evident on the city’s streets, in real estate agencies and restaurants featuring signs and menus in Russian.

Pattaya’s Russian-speaking community was thrust into the spotlight for all the wrong reasons last year, however, after Alex Kirillov and Anastasia Vashukevich were arrested for running “sex seminars” in the city. Detained last February during a session in a hotel room that was reportedly attended by about 40 Russian tourists, they were charged with offences related to prostitution. The pair were deported in December and banned from the country.

As if Vashukevich’s sobriquet of “Belarusian sex trainer” wasn’t salacious enough, she also claimed to have inside information about how Russian operatives helped swing 2016’s US election in Donald Trump’s favour. Her claims remain unsubstantiated, but the case brought a renewed focus on Pattaya’s seedy underbelly.

Plenty of visitors come to explore the red light district around Walking Street, although the city also draws a mix of retirees, families and singles with no interest in that side of Pattaya.

The influx of visitors, and those who have settled, has made this the most Russian of cities in Asia. They chafe at the stereotype of their adopted city as a bottomless barrel of sex and sleaze. It is their home, and they are ready to defend it.

Continues with pics and videos

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2185341/pattaya-love-forget-sex-trainers-meet-real-russians-thailands