My
meetings with the prostitutes in Moscow almost always started at the
Leningradskaya. Meetings at the Ukraina Hotel, as well, done in the Stalinist architecture
style, tended to be later in the evening when the working women began to fan
out to other locations or pick their bar stool in their favorite café’s,
lounges, and bars. I preferred the Leningradskaya because the lobby bar had a
huge wide-open seating area where the women began their evenings in full
luxurious style…and you could see the comings and goings of everyone around.
My room
was on the eighth floor. I asked for a suite knowing that I was to “receive”
several guests that evening. With key in hand and my black diplomatka, I walked
past the vast lobby bar seating area to see if things were hopping yet at the
Ukraina. There were several women parked on couches but not the “evening
shift”. That group usually made a grand entrance as the hotel waved off the day
shift prostitutes and geared up for the “A Team” evening crew…a clear step up
for clients that could afford the A-level service. I wondered if the limos
outside were bringing that crew in for the evening. That seemed pretty unlikely
but, then again, I had noted the previous week in the Warsaw Business Journal
that of 1000 young Russian girls polled in high schools and junior high schools
across the country, prostitution had far and away been the most desired
profession in Russia.
The
Leningradskaya certainly allowed prostitution to flourish in its hotel. The KGB
wouldn’t have had it any other way. Their partnership was solid and well-oiled
after decades of faithful service to the intelligence organization by women
that were paid exceedingly well for extracting information from businessmen,
government officials, and the occasional spies they came across in their
nightly escapades. Not all meetings turned into sex. In fact, the “catch rate”
for most of the women was actually quite low. Competition was extremely stiff
within and between the evening and night venues. Germans, the Dutch, the British,
and Italian customers tended not to hesitate as much as the Americans. One
minute of clear disinterest or fear signaled to a woman that this was not going
to be an easy catch. She might immediately ask for you to buy her a drink and
then leave with it, barely thanking you as she saddled up to the next bar
patron. Returning customers and known regulars were given more time to show
intent.
I suppose
I fit in the latter category since I was known by the bartender and a couple of
the women that would smile and check in with me when I would show up at the bar
to see if there was interest. Having dropped packages before at both the
Leningradskaya and the Ukraina, there must have been a pimp or two that knew
me, as well. I had never met one, though. Pimps, I was told, personally
delivered packages to their intended recipient.
Women
working the bars and lobbies in the city’s hotels were working for two or three
clients. First, and foremost was the pimp that controlled and facilitated
access to their “place of work”. Ukraina and Leningradskaya were top of the
line places and the most beautiful women of Moscow worked here. It was an
amazing show most any night to view its stars on stage. The fact that women had
access to these hotels meant that a powerful pimp was behind her. The other
domestic client was the secret police. Pimps and the police were often one in
the same I was told. Use of the term KGB was quickly going out of style by this
time but it was clear that there had been no major changes among the intelligence
people in Moscow…at least as far as I could tell and what friends were telling
me that were being called in and questioned every time I showed up in town. Dimitry,
a friend from FEDEX days, dreaded my visits. He was grilled every time I left
and forced to see photographs of me sitting in hotel lobbies chatting with
people.
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