MOSCOW, January 22 (RIA Novosti) - A 20-year-old Russian woman has been rescued from sex slavery in Bahrain, the Russian Interior Ministry press service said on Tuesday.

The woman went on a vacation to Bahrain with a “friend,” who offered to pay for the tour. When they arrived she was told to pay back $20,000 or to pay off the debt through prostitution.

She refused and phoned her mother, who alerted the police.

The woman was freed as a result of a joint operation by Russian and Bahraini law enforcement agencies with Interpol assistance.

The ministry did not say when the incident took place or how long the woman was held in what she claimed was a brothel.

In a video posted on the ministry’s website, she also said she was drugged en route to Bahrain and did not really know how she ended up in the brothel.

The woman’s “friend” is currently under investigation, the ministry said.