russia
HIV/AIDS in Russia
MOSCOW, RUSSIA 2002 Novogireyevo, South East of Moscow Centre. Andrey is a security guard at the Leningradsky Prospekt prostitution point. Most guards "look after" girls who work at the point. In Andrey's 1 bed apartment there are 4 girls. Andrey stole two girls from another point, he bought another for $100 and is looking after the fourth for another guard. None of the girls are Moscovites, and are without proper papers. One had her papers stolen by the security at the last point where she was kidnapped from, and is now forced to work as a prostitute, as without papers she can do nothing else. All she wants is to be able to return home to the Ukraine. She came to Moscow to try and make a career as an actress. Another was forced into prostitution at the age of 10. Andrey gets paid 500 rubles per night by the point master, and the girls pay him for the apartment. He carries a home made gas gun. (Photo by David Gillanders)
russia
In the late 90’s I read an article in the Sunday Times about a city in Russia, Ekaterinburg, that had declared a zero tolerance stance on intravenous drug use. The approach seemed extreme – and the more I looked into it the more I became intrigued.
It also seemed that Russia had an almost underground problem with very fast rates of infection of HIV.
A few months later I got on a plane for the first of many trips to and from Russia and then Ukraine over the next decade or so.
Ultimately I ended up meeting and getting somewhat sucked into the lives of a group of homeless children in Ukraine – but looking through contact prints from yesteryear made me want to pull together an edit from my first couple of years work in Russia.