Virtually every unmarried person-and certainly every unmarried man-who reads Moscow newspapers knows what he’s looking at when he sees an ad for “Massage.” Though The Moscow Times long ago disposed of the word in favor of the even more meaningless euphemism “Introduction,” The Moscow Tribune and advertisers in a host of other Moscow papers (including our own) still insist on calling prostitutition services “Massage.” A man seeking “massage” in this town can specify the hair color, height and even bust size of his “masseuse.” But can he get a massage-particularly if, after contracting a mildly contagious disease, he really needs one? (more…)
Almost two years ago, on the eve of the 50th anniversary of Russia’s victory over the Nazis, I experienced the quintessential evening of Moscow Decadence. It began at around midnight in the parking lot of the Young Pioneer’s stadium. My…
While the United States is beginning to dominate the loony suicidal cult market, Russia is rapidly replacing America as the serial murder capital of the world. First Andrei Chikatilo set the modern record for serial murder victims by killing 53…
We at the eXile were on the phone last week when a funny thing happened. We were hard at work at the time, researching an in-depth story on what spring in Moscow was really all about. Unlike other newspapers and…
The fashionable writer Viktor Pelevin provides this neat little paradox in his latest novel, Chapayev and Pustota: “Foreigners, of whom there is an incredible number in Moscow, have for many years dressed in such a way that they could not…
This is the cover of The eXile Issue #7, published in May 1997.
