Young Soldiers Gay Sex Slaves

MOSCOW, RUSSIA -- Young soldiers at an army base in Russia have been routinely forced to work as male prostitutes by senior officers and to turn over their earnings to their superiors.

Quoting some of the soldiers and the human rights group Union of the Committees of Soldiers' Mothers of Russia, The Gazeta newspaper reports that the soldiers were from an army base in St. Petersburg.

The human rights group tells the newspaper that clients would arrive at the base late at night and the soldiers would be forced by officers to get into the cars and would often not return until the next morning.

One of the soldiers told the Gazeta that the officers would use violence and torture to force the men into prostitution.

"The officers would beat us on the arms and legs. We were sent out to the park to earn money ... I was tortured with electric shocks," he said.

Officers at the base passed on client lists to successors at the base, keeping the praxis going for quite some time. Each soldier was paid about $50 for each "trick," most of which went back to the officers.

Russia's military has gone through heavy re-structuring after the fall of the Soviet Union and many soldiers and officers have been demoralized due to terrible living conditions and lack of pay.

Russia's Defense Minister, Sergei Ivanov, has promised a full investigation.