  The production of phi mesons in Au+Au collisions at RHIC and their
propagation in a hot and dense nuclear medium is studied within the microscopic
quark-gluon string model. The inverse slope parameter of the transverse mass
distribution agrees well with that extracted from the STAR data, while the
absolute yield of phi is underestimated by a factor 2. It appears that the
fusion of strings alone cannot increase the phi yield either. Less than 30% of
detectable phi's experience elastic scattering, this rate is insufficient for
the full thermalization of phi. The directed flow of phi at |y|<2 demonstrates
strong antiflow behavior, whereas its elliptic flow rises up to about 3.5% in
the same rapidity interval. As a function of transverse momentum it rises
linearly with increasing p_t, in agreement with the STAR data, and saturates at
p_t > 2 GeV/c.
