But before Moscow celebrates its 850th anniversary later this summer, the city's most visible prostitutes will be swept up in a police net and deposited along a desolate stretch of the Moscow River.
Interior Minister Anatoly Kulikov said he hatched the plan after he drove along Tverskaya Ulitsa one evening and counted about 500 prostitutes.
"They nearly dragged me out of the car," Kulikov complained at a news conference Friday, Itar-Tass said.
Kulikov said he teamed up with Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov, who is mounting an elaborate celebration of the city's anniversary in early September. Luzhkov agreed with the proposal to relocate the streetwalkers.
The newly designated prostitute market will be just one kilometer east of the Kremlin, along a stretch of the Moscow River with heavy traffic but few pedestrians.
Russian and Soviet officials have previously rounded up or moved prostitutes during large events. During the 1980 Moscow Olympics, authorities sent prostitutes to a former military camp outside the city for the duration of the Games.
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