A Russian Bride Guide

Why Russian Women?

The first question that so many people new to the subject will ask is:

“Why Russian women?”

As the former beer slogan says: “Why ask why?”

The answer is both simple and complicated.
1. Huge shortage of men in Russia= strong competition among women= remember that guy Darwin?
2. Russian women put the W back in Woman in a big way.
3. American culture has created a huge departure from gender roles since the 60′s.

So, what makes Russian Women so desirable and attractive?
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Agency Interview:

A Russian Bride Guide recently interviewed Sergey Polianichevski of St. Petersburg’s Arcadia marriage agency. The interview follows this brief overview of the company:

Arcadia marriage agency of St. Petersburg, Russia has been matching Russian brides with Western men since 1997 and stands out among the numerous Russian dating agencies because of Sergey’s more intimate approach. The agency offers 100′s of profiles of attractive single Russian ladies who seek a loving marriage. What is unique about Arcadia is that Sergey knows all the women listed on his site personally and keeps the listing up to date by removing ladies who are no longer interested. Visitors to Arcadia will also find 200 recorded video introductions of some women listed there and can browse the listings and videos freely with no need to sign up or join. Sergey only charges for services based on the matchmaking process, if a gentleman wishes to visit the beautiful city of St. Petersburg, known affectionately to locals as Peter. The total cost of this process will include your round trip flight to St. Petersburg, lodging, local meals and transport, and the agencies charge of 500 Euros for the first week of arranged meetings with the women of your chosing. Various other services are offered based upon client wishes and needs. As you can see here your whole visit may end up costing little more than around $2,400 if you are able to find your match in a one week trip. Sergey promises that your datebook will be full the entire week.

Interview:
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Russian Dating Agencies?

I will be dealing with this topic for the next few posts because unless you plan to just fly to Russia on your own and meet women on the street you are going to need to work with some sort of an agency or dating site to make contact with women in Russia.  At first glance the idea of choosing which agency to go with or what approach to take in beginning your search for a Russian Wife can be overwhelming. There are well over 300 websites claiming to offer services ranging from simple contact information to full fledged “romance tours”. Your investment in this search can range anywhere from a couple thousand dollars up to $50,000 or more. Finding the right mate in your own town can be difficult but taking your search overseas adds a possible language barrier, an ocean, new customs and different culture. These factors which make seeking a Russian Bride seem more challenging are also part of the allure. Armed with the right information and the right attitude a man can successfully complete his search without breaking the bank.
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Dating Russian Women: The Crazy Thing OR A Wonderful Opportunity?
By Elena Petrova, Copyright 2004. All rights reserved.
My site is on the top of many search engines for the search query “Russian brides”, and as the result I receive lots of requests for interviews from journalists all over the world, and the question they invariably ask is: “Why western men look for Russian women?”

So let me once and forever explain you the reason why thousands western men flock to Russia in search for their love partner.

The answer is benevolently straightforward: they can meet in Russia a partner of better quality than is available for them at home! 

They are NOT looking for a Russian woman – they are looking for a better quality woman!

But why it is possible?

I know what you think: you think it is because Russian women are desperate to escape from Russia. 

Well, such thinking is pure ignorance.

Check the websites of American expatriates living in Russia (yes, there is a huge community of Americans permanently living in Russia, with their own newspapers and websites!) and you will confirm what I am saying: women who seek partners abroad do it because they want to meet a suitable partner that they have failed to meet at home. They are not looking to immigrate. They are looking to find their love!

Hard to believe?
Read on, I will explain.

The fundamental reason for that lies in Russian demographics. 

You know that men to women ratios differ dramatically between the countries.

For example, the latest figures from The Economist show that in United Arab Emirates there are 186 males for 100 females. It’s clear the competition for eligible females should be stiff there. If you are a single male, The Emirates will be the last place in the world to look for an available woman (unless you live there, of course .

Now, what is the best place for a single male to score?
Let’s look at the world statistics again.

The lowest men to women ratios are in Eastern Europe!

Countries like Russia and Ukraine are on the top of the list, with only 88 males to 100 females.
The latest Russian census provided astounding figures of 10 million more women than men. 
There the situation is exactly the opposite way around: eligible bachelors are more precious than gold.

So if you were a single male, exploring your dating options in Russia would make the perfect sense!

One wise man said: “Craziness is to do the same thing expecting a different result.”

If you ever grow tired of your local dating market, or would like to expand your opportunities, check Russia: you will be stunned what kind of women can be available for you there!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: The author of this
article, Elena Petrova, is the creator of Russian
Brides Cyber Guide, the first website about Russian women seeking
foreign men for marriage, designed by a Russian woman.

Who is to blame for scams?

One topic that receives much attention on discussion boards and anti-scam sites is about dating scams. Especially agency scams but also individual people -Russian women that is. True, you have to use a good measure of caution when dealing with agencies and women. The reality is that on the issue of scams the blame is split 30/30/30 between agencies, women and men. A 50-something Western guy marries his dream girl -a 24 year old Russian beauty. A few years later we hear a sob story about how she had his child, brought her parents to the U.S. and proceeded to divorce him.
 
All I can say is…..what did you expect! Guys, you have to be realistic. Turn the situation around and imagine yourself 23, are you really going to have an interest in a woman twice your age? Maybe one out of a million people in this situation is going to be truly in love, even then it would take alot of effort to make it work. As you age this large difference becomes even larger. Her: age 35  You: age 62  ….get the picture? The moral of this story is follow the wise advice of keeping the age difference to around 10 years or less, you will have more in common this way.
 
So, about those scams? Visit Jim’s Lists and get yourself an education on how to spot them and how to avoid them. I will post once in a while about scams but for now I will leave the investigating to the experts in that area. Be careful about the many Jim’s List impostors out there as they are plenty.
 
Scams pretty much fit into these categories:
 

Agency scam:

Agency lists multiple profiles that are fake, no longer available or no longer active. You pay for full access. They (the agency) sends phony emails from those bad profiles thus charging you for communications that are not genuine. The more they email you with phony profiles, the more money they get from your wallet. Seems like the fewer real marriages they create, the more money they make.

Russian Girls scam:

The girls may be pro-daters (meaning they never intend to marry you, just have a good time on your dime), they may be professional letter writers and players who work for the agencies taking a cut of revenue they generate, or they may simply be looking for someone to roll ie. get to U.S., have a child, take half of your stuff and get child support. This last one I must say is very often the accusation but in my opinion is very, very seldom a premeditated event in reality. If a woman  to conduct this last scam she can do it almost as easily in Russia or Ukraine without having to uproot her whole life and move to another country. Generally, the girl scammers are encouraged and enabled by the bad agencies that are overwhelmingly patronized by gullible Western men.

Western men scam:

Yes! They scam too. Mainly by leading women on by simply playing their fantasy out online with letters, chats and sending gifts with never intending to commit to a cross-cultural marriage. It is like a game to these men. There are also the men who only want to go on some sort of a sex tour. Yes, an exciting jaunt half way across the globe to taste the fruit of Eastern lands. There are even tour operators that more than willingly accommodate such men’s desires.

St. Basils Cathedral in Moscow

Well, now that you have stumbled upon this page my guess is that either you are looking into the international dating world or you are already married to a Russian woman. There is much information out there, as well as misinformation. There is also a great opportunity to find the love of your life as I did 14 years ago. 

I was luckier than most because I was learning the Russian language and happened to meet my beautiful wife on the shores of the Black Sea in Sochi, Russia. Today the process of meeting Russian women has become much more accessible yet much more complicated at the same time. In these pages I intend to post regularly with relative information that will help those intent on seeking a relationship with a woman of the FSU as well as offer advice to those already along in the process.

Topics will range from how to evaluate the various agencies, what resources can be trusted for advice and warnings, how to go about building a relationship with a FSU woman as well as information on language, culture and how to obtain a fiance visa. Please feel free to comment on posts and also suggest future post topics. Also, sign up for our discussion forum as you will be sure to find lively conversation there on the topics as well.