Gasinskaya, Liliana

Liliana Gasinskaya lived in Odessa . From the age of 14, Liliana dreamed of escaping from the USSR ^[1] and for this purpose at the age of 18 she got a job as a waitress on the Soviet cruise ship “ Leonid Sobinov ”. On January 14, 1979 ^[2] , while the ship sailed in the port of Sydney , Gasinskaya in one red bikini climbed through the porthole and sailed 40 minutes to the coast of Sydney Bay in the region of Pyrmont , a suburb of Sydney. Having reached the shore, Gasinskaya, in broken English, turned to a passerby, walking her dog, for help and clothes. Employees of the Soviet consulate almost found her, but reporters from the Daily Mirror newspaper found her first and hid her, receiving in exchange exclusive interviews and bikini photos (and in the West they gave her the nickname “Girl in red bikini”).

Hasinskaya explained her act by the fact that she wanted to flee from the USSR at the age of fourteen. Australia she liked the photos in a magazine. In an interview, the refugee talked about her hatred of communism , "built on lies and propaganda." The girl said she wanted to become an actress and go to school models.

There was a discussion in Australian society about whether a girl should be given asylum or deported , as was usually the case with other similar refugees. Despite the fact that Gasinskaya could not convincingly explain what exactly the persecution was by the authorities at home (one commentator even suggested that she was just bored shopping in the USSR), the refugee was allowed to stay.

Despite the efforts of the Soviet embassy to her extradition , she was granted political asylum in Australia.

Received considerable popularity in the West as a "girl in a red bikini" ^{[3] [4] [5]} .

Shot for glossy magazines. For 15 thousand dollars she appeared naked at the turn of the first Australian issue of the magazine " Penthouse ". Married to Daily Mirror newspaper photographer ^{[ when? ]} , who left her with three children for her. Her husband helped her start a career as a professional disco and DJ dancer . Filmed in the Australian television series The Young Doctors and Arcade .

In 1981, she came back to the pages of newspapers when Immigration Affairs Minister Ian McPhee said that her status could be reconsidered, since Gasinskaya was rumored to have applied for the restoration of Soviet citizenship , which the refugee herself had denied.

In 1984, she became the wife of a wealthy developer businessman, Jan Hyson. In 1990, they broke up, after which Gasinskaya disappeared from the gossip, becoming an ordinary person. She now lives in London .

• Kurilov, Stanislav Vasilyevich fled from the Soviet tourist liner, sailed for about 100 km.

• Krasnov V. Soviet Defectors: The KGB Wanted List / Vladislav Krasnov. - Hoover Press Publication, 1986. - P. 135. - ISBN 0-8179-8231-0 .
• Cabinet papers 1979: Liliana Gasinskaya: Red Bikini Girl, The Sydney Morning Herald (January 1, 2010)
• Lilya Gasinskaya - Escape from the Union // ribalych.ru
• Dissident in a red bathing suit // isrageo.com