Kate Moss’s biography by a Ms Alena Alpenshtal is now available in bookstores all over Russia, including some copies found by a Politsovet reporter in one of Yekaterinburg’s largest stores.

In terms of quality, the book is not much better than a bundle of photocopies; one half of the 128-page book almost fully consists of the supermodel’s photographs, printed without any reference to either the possessors of rights or the photographers, which might mean that the photographs were used illegitimately. Moreover, the book features Vogue and People magazine covers that are protected by copyright, so any unauthorized use of these is decidedly illegal.

The publishers never bothered to provide their factual whereabouts; Folio SP, allegedly located in Sergiev Posad, appears not to exist, as the phone numbers provided only connect you to AST publishing holding that comprises some thirty smaller publishing houses. According to AST spokesperson, the offending book was actually published by an RNPL that no one knows anything about. The bookstore says the book came from AST but they are not really sure why the information provided about the publisher is so dubious.

Most likely, this ‘scandal-filled biography’ is a pirated edition whose authors and publishers are hoping to make some profit from the model and notorious cocaine-taker’s overwhelming popularity.