Her sting operations reportedly netted at least half a dozen prominent Kremlin critics. The men ended up in an apartment where a hidden camera was ready-to-roll. Sex and cocaine use featured prominently in some of the footage. After the victims played their unwitting roles, videos of the trysts turned up on the internet.

One of the men targeted was Russian satirist and Putin critic Viktor Shenderovich. He was the writer of a Russian TV show called Kukly that was similar to the Brit comedy series Spitting Image. Kukly savagely lampooned Putin. It was pulled off the air when Putin took power and cracked down on the media. Shenderovich hasn't just used satire to make a point, his criticisms of the Kremlin over the years have included accusations of murder and corruption.

Shenderovich, who is married with a daughter, suspected something was up prior to his 'Ekaterina video' turning up on the net. He realized he had been targeted after reading an article about a series of honeytrap operations and spotting Gerasimova's photos in Novaya Gazeta. He got ahead of his internet exposure with an announcement on his website.

He admitted he had sex with "Katya" but said he had done so “without pleasure, because the collaborator in this process was as dull as your whole sad Gestapo”. His video showed up on the net hours after his announcement.

Shenderovich claims the sting could only have been set up with help from the security services. He said: "This is not entertainment, the filming was done professionally, federal forces were involved in it. This is being done by the authorities for two purposes: to discredit and to blackmail."

Others targeted in the sting also allege it was part of an organized dirty tricks campaign to discredit them. According to experts the tech used in Gerasimova's apartment was sophisticated, featuring multiple camera angles. The finished products included music and clips from a popular comedy show between bedroom scenes.

Those videotaped with Gerasimova include Eduard Limonov, leader of the anti-Putin party The Other Russia and Alexander Potkin, leader of Movement Against Illegal Migrants. The editor of Newsweek's Russian edition, Mikhail Fishman, was also targeted. He has accused the security services of an attempt at blackmail in an effort to compromise Newsweek's independence. Even Russian rock legend, DDT frontman Yuri Shevchuk, has said that he expects to be starring in a Gerasimova web video sometime soon.



Some were warier than others. The leader of the Solidarity movement, Ilya Yashin, said he spent the night with Gerasimova but when she brought out cocaine and sex toys he became suspicious and left the apartment. He believes she was an agent working with the security services.

According to the Moscow Times, Yashin has sent requests to three law enforcement agencies to investigate "the origin of a series of compromising Internet videos targeting opposition politicians and journalists." It is after all against Russian law to violate an individual's privacy and engage in the illegal distribution of pornography.

Moscow Times:

In his letters, Yashin identified the woman having sex in the videos as Yekaterina Gerasimova, whom he said works at the OrangeDisco event company in Moscow, and he called on the investigators to question her.

Yashin said he had been in a rented apartment with Gerasimova and another woman, whom he identified as Anastasia Chukova, "under similar circumstances" to those in the sex video that surfaced last week. He said it was possible he was also filmed and that the video could eventually be posted online.

Yashin has also named names. He appears to believe that the pro-Kremlin Nashi youth group may have been involved and has named the group's founder, Vladislav Surkov and a former leader of Nashi, Vasily Yakemenko.

In March video clips appeared on a Nashi website showing Yashin, independent political commentator Dmitry Oreshkin and Newsweek editor Mikhail Fishman giving bribes to traffic police.

More on the story at Huffington Post - Daily Beast - Independent - Moscow Times