The report, which filled a half-page of the newspaper, was one of the longest and most detailed on prostitution to appear in the Soviet press. Authorities and previous reports in the official media have concentrated on criticizing prostitutes who earn hard currency from foreigners.
In our country this ugly phenomenon must not stay beyond the law. Chaikovsky of the Moscow Bureau of Criminal Investigation told the newspaper that the law only allows administrative punishment of prostitutes, but that the code requires the prostitute to identify her client and name her price.
It also requires a statement from the client. The newspaper quoted Maj. Sergei A. Adzhiev divided the prostitutes into three categories: those who work the hotels and bars in downtown Moscow and command the highest prices, those who know no life outside prostitution, and women who lack even a permanent place to live.
One woman, identified only as G. Some drunken prostitutes freeze to death in the snow, while others suffer such severe frostbite that their arms or legs must be amputated, the newspaper said. It said the busiest place for prostitution in Moscow is a square where there are three train stations. Sovietskaya Rossiya, the official newspaper of the Communist Party and the government of the Russian Republic, did not say how much money is made by the highest-paid prostitutes.
However, the report said they have enough money to pay off workers at hotels and restaurants, taxi drivers and doctors, with enough left over for cooperative apartments, cars, airline tickets and resort vacations. The newspaper quoted unidentified Interior Ministry workers as saying national and Intourist hotels were often frequented by prostitutes. Newspapers previously have said that if police want to arrest prostitutes they must do so for offenses such as public drunkenness or disturbing the peace.
