Intelligent and well-educated, it nevertheless took her six months to escape from imprisonment in a series of bars and nightclubs in Hamburg and its suburbs. Most of the other Russians she met there had given up even trying to return home. Even now that she is back in her small provincial town on the southern border with Ukraine, she remains so anxious about reprisals from the people who organised her trip that she refuses to reveal her real name. She was one of the participants at a conference of 43 anti-trafficking organisations from 25 regions of Russia and six former Soviet republics that finished last week. The trade stems from a mixture of poverty, naivety, a weak legal system and a prevalence of well-organised criminal groups.
Ignorance lies at the heart of the problem.
According to MiraMed, the charity that organised this month's conference, around 90 per cent of the women trafficked abroad are unaware that they are headed for a career in the sex industry. The small ads columns of provincial newspapers are filled with adverts encouraging young, attractive women to apply for work as waitresses in Italy or barmaids and nannies in Germany. With the economy in Russia's remote regions deeply depressed, many women are desperate for an escape. The novelty of travel in the West remains high, while awareness about life there is low. For the groups organising the trafficking there are few obstacles.