August 5-11, 2004

naked city

Web site of the week

by Joel Tannenbaum

Russian Roulette

America's best alternative newspaper is published (ironically? sadly? appropriately?) in Moscow. The eXile, a free, English-language biweekly, first appeared in 1997 in Yeltsin's wild west Russia.

The eXile's Web site offers lots of features in addition to its print content. But currently, the best feature on offer at www.exile.ru is a breathless recap of a prank by Editor Mark Ames that went horribly awry: Last month Ames took credit for a forged letter from five U.S. congressmen suggesting that former Russian Prime Minister Sergei Kiriyenko had pocketed a $4.8 billion IMF loan in 1998 and is now seeking U.S. residency. The Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta ran the story, and the capital's English daily, The Moscow Times, quickly followed suit.

When Ames claimed authorship of the prank, Kiriyenko was predictably incensed, as were the newspapers that had been suckered into reporting the story. But when the American editor of Forbes Magazine's Russian edition turned up dead of gunshot wounds that same week, Ames wasn't laughing.

It got worse: One of the congressmen named in the letter — Texas Republican Henry Bonilla — called for Russian authorities to prosecute the pranksters. Now contemplating Russian jail time, Ames made another move. He claimed that he in fact had nothing to do with the letter — the actual prank was that The eXile had falsely claimed credit for it, and that the actual forger was therefore still unknown. When nobody cared, Ames panicked. The July 22 issue's cover story is a semi-hysterical screed, in which Ames announces that the magazine will be shut down for most of the next month and that he will be in hiding, in fear for his life.

Did he do it, and then claim not to have done it in a last-ditch effort to avoid being dragged out of his apartment and into the trunk of a black Lada? Or did he not do it, then claim to have done it, and then admit to not having done it only to find that no one believed him? Either way, City Paper sincerely wishes Ames the best of luck and hopes that this whole mess doesn't give Vincent Fumo any ideas.