So you are seeking a woman from the former Soviet Union? Likely Russia or Ukraine. Ukraine has no visa requirements, so is easier right? In Ukraine, all the pretty girls seem to be from Odessa and Kiev. Why is that?
I think this is one of those topics that is ignored, or the meat hidden away on page 10 of other unrelated forum topics across the net. Call it the elephant in the room if you like………
I was talking to a guy on the telephone today, who as may seem to do, was fixated on the idea of travelling to Odessa and/or Kiev to meet a multitude of women – none of which he even had a number for, all of whom claimed to be seeking improbable age gaps – you get the idea.
Odessa and Kiev are amongst those places we hear many stories from: scammers, pro-daters etc.
Many men seem to correspond with women from these cities and many agencies (many of dubious repute as well) reside in these cities. Tours and socials are operated from these cities too. So, in the normal run of things, we would expect to see a brace of guys married to women from Kiev and Odessa. There are so many agencies there, and so many men go there. Not all sites have the safeguards and controls of sites like Planet Love Match or Elena’s Models like they should. Not many men go to the trouble of having their women verified and evaluated by a female Russian-speaking psychologist, to check their true motivation, like they should.
Yet, its not a place I tend to notice many mens wives are actually from. When I think of the guys/couples I personally know and/or have met, and those [amongst the successful] who my wife has worked with, and guys who talk about where their wives are from on the various forums, I am not noticing Odessa and Kiev crop up like one would imagine it might with the foot traffic it gets.
Of course, its easy to write these places off as heaving with pro-daters and other types of disingenuous women who have no intention of relocating abroad with one of the huge influx of foreigners who land there. Most people assert these places are over-fished and/or are the hunting ground for sex tourists. Is all that true and the reputation deserved, or do these places get undeserved bad press? Lets find out.
In my opinion, almost all the dodgy stuff in recent years seems to come from Odessa, and secondly Kiev. These places are the new Lugansk since Lugansk lost the crown.
Read all the “I sent money” tales, most of the train wrecks, all the women who have three cell phones but answer none of them, Yuri the boyfriend taxi driver, women on paid cameras at 3am, $300 sushi restaurant bills, apartment rip-off’s, $1000 shopping sprees to “prove” affection — almost all of it. Odessa (with Kiev in a close second place) has become the likely common denominator in so many of these things.
I see so much of this from the side of the fence that is Olga’s work, that it becomes so predictable.
Everyone is obsessed with going there, yet few are married to women from there. It is one of a handful of places where foreign men are a stand-alone industry.
When did you last read tales of scams from Moscow, St Pete, Samara, Vladivostok, Vilnius, Riga, Minsk, Kaliningrad or from a Ukrainian town far from Odessa, Kiev and the like? You will likely be counting in years I bet.
Whether these places are heaving with pro-daters, scammers or just plain old good time girls and hookers – one of the things they are not heaving with is women being exported as wives. Now if the choice is between the likelihood of meeting disingenuous women at worst, and sloppy seconds at best – I think I will choose the third way. Russia.
Just my opinion – your mileage may vary.
Foreign dating is changing fast. Get ahead of the curve by educating yourself.
Stuart J. Smith is the co-author of the Russian Bride Guide: How to meet, court and marry a woman from the former Soviet Union and a consultant for men seeking Russian women. He has guested on many radio shows on the “mail order bride” subject. He runs the busiest Russian women information discussion forum on the internet today.