MOSCOW, November 10 (Itar-Tass) - The Federal Security Service has broken an international prostitution ring, which engaged in human trafficking using illegal migration channels to Italy, Greece and Spain, the FSB public relations office told Itar-Tass on Tuesday.

"The criminal ring included citizens of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. The operation was conducted jointly with the Investigations Committee of the Prosecutor General's Office (SKP) and foreign partners," the FSB said.

"As a result of the operation, 14 active members of the group have been caught red-handed. Eight were detained in Russia and six - abroad. In addition, more than 20 persons have been exposed who are involved in these illegal activities," an FSB representative said.

"It has been ascertained that a ramified network of recruiting agents was operating in the Primorye Territory and the Belgorod, Kostroma regions and other provinces of central Russia, who, using fraud and abuse of trust recruited women (mostly from problem families) for subsequent ferrying them to western Europe on tourist visas.

"The recruited girls were sent to Moscow from provinces, where visas were drawn for them from fake papers. Criminals then selected "safe routes" for ferrying them to Europe.

"In European countries, the masterminds of the criminal business forced the girls into prostitution.

"A criminal case was opened against the organizers of the illegal migration channel. The operations and search events continue," the FSB said.

SKP spokesman Vladimir Markin said young women had been smuggled into Italy, Spain and Greece.

"The criminal group had a material base of its own, a clear hierarchy and discipline, and its leader - a female resident of the town of Kostroma, Russia, assigned precise roles to each member. For the sake of conspiracy, the criminals regularly replaced their mobile phones and sim-cards. They set up terminal bases, where women were received and provided with accommodation and fake documents, necessary for traveling abroad and staying there," Markin said.

"The members of the criminal groups collected at least 2,000 euros per woman sold into sexual slavery, through international remittances. Payments were made to cover the expenses for ferrying the victims, and after their handover to customers and the beginning of sexual exploitation. The criminal group recruited and smuggled abroad several hundred women for engaging in prostitution.

"All the detainees are in custody. The court upheld the investigators' request to select custody as the measure of restraint," the SKP spokesman said.

SKP investigators in the Kostroma region opened criminal proceedings against the members of the organized criminal group accused of human trafficking and forcing people into prostitution (Article 127.1, Part 3, article 240, Part 3).

It is the second high-profile criminal case over illegal taking of women abroad.

The Moscow district military court is hearing the case involving six Russians, five Moldovan citizens and two Israelis, accused of arranging the smuggling of woman to west European countries and the Middle East in 1999-2007.

In a number of Russian towns, they concluded fictitious contacts through dummy firms over employment abroad; travel agencies in Moscow and Petersburg drew Schengen visas, and then other women's photos were inserted into valid passports.

The court recognized 130 women as injured parties. They are citizens of Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Moldova and Russia. The defendants were charged with "organization or participation in criminal group, human trafficking committed by organized group and resulting, through negligence, in the death of a person or other grave consequences, involvement in prostitution - including minors - by using violence of threat of violence, and arrangement of illegal migration."

The FSB routed the group in the spring of 2007, together with the National Security Service of Uzbekistan, and law-enforcement bodies of Italy, Finland, and the General Secretariat of the Interpol.