The matchmaking of Ukrainian women with foreigners of the opposite sex is a great opportunity for them to become the recipients of expensive gifts, while foreign pleasure-seekers get a chance to spend a few unforgettable nights with the Slavic beauties. In the meantime, those who want to find true love are the victims of this “business of love”

Ukrainian travel agencies working in the inbound tourism sector are prospering. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed that this year the number of foreign tourists traveling to Ukraine has, so far grown by 15% in comparison with last year. This is a result of the seemingly free advertising of Ukraine through the “Orange Revolution”.
One may ask then what was the source of income of local travel agencies in previous years? Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, 50% of the earnings of certain large companies were made in the marriage business. Foreigners came to Ukraine predominantly with the aim of finding beautiful, obedient housewives, while the other half visited for tourism, business or personal and family purposes.
Today, despite the fact that the marriage business is not as lucrative as the tourism industry, it nonetheless takes in a pretty penny. When such marriage agencies first opened up in Ukraine they were often successful in arranging a happy life for Ukrainian women with foreign husbands. As nature has it, eventually many charlatans became involved in the business of matchmaking to make a quick buck to go one fairy-tale, permanent vacation.
The harem and the foxy?
There are two ways for a Ukrainian gal to get acquainted with a foreign husband. One way is to begin corresponding with a potential bridegroom through the contacts of a foreign marriage agency. The second way is to participate in so-called “bride auctions”, where several hundred women seeking their nest egg among single foreign males and twenty bride bidders convene under one roof.
Such a “marriage tour” for men wishing to part with their bachelor past starts in Kyiv and passes through Ukraine’s largest cities, such as Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhya, Donetsk and Kharkiv.
In every city the foreigners stay from 3-4 days to get acquainted with their potential Ukrainian brides. These meetings are called “socials” and somewhat resemble Asian slave markets.
The settings for such acquaintances are usually banquet halls in such large hotels as the Rus in Kyiv. Ukrainian girls stand in a row while philanderers, whose marriages failed back home, are accompanied by the interpreter to help them choose the girl they find the most attractive to have a conversation. Naturally, the girls dress up to ninths and have their hair styled and faces made up for a nice chunk of coin to look stunning for their potential bridegroom. As a rule, men want to see all girls, so it is hard for them to make a choice.
Typically after the conversation, the foreign bidders invite the girl for a walk through the city or for dinner and then spend a night with her in their hotel room. There is no guarantee that the acquaintance will end in marriage, since such a “bride show” tour with the accompanying dinners and sleepless nights await the bridegroom in at least two other cities.
Employees of local tourist agencies specializing in accommodating these foreigners in Ukraine admitted that the latter often take a candidate for marriage along with them to another city, reserve one room for her and a room next door for getting to know another girl, and then they simply “jump from one bed to another”.
By the end of their tour these “bedbug bachelors” often gather a harem of Ukrainian beauties that would even make the Sultan envious. The sad truth is that only 10% of Ukrainian girls receive an invitation abroad after such adventures.
What can I do you for?
Be that as it may, it would be wrong to think that Ukrainian women being matched up with foreign bridegrooms are always abandoned and deceived.
The fact is that the art of getting money and expensive gifts out of kindhearted and particularly generous foreigners has virtually become a full-fledged profession. As a rule, these resourceful Ukrainian girls are stunningly beautiful, fluent in English and very crafty psychologists. This particular category of women does not take part in “bride shows”, instead giving preference to private correspondence through a foreign marriage agency. Their primary goal is not marriage to a foreigner, rather the money they can earn from such acquaintances.
Many of them are quite successful in their ventures and often end up receiving an expensive car as a gift. Their methods are straightforward. A potential bride spends several months actively corresponding by mail with her alleged bridegroom (sometimes, with several men at the same time). Then she sends him another letter saying that a member of her family ended up in a horrible situation and he is the only recourse for financial help. Not all of them go for this trick, but since the girls correspond with several potential “sponsors” at the same time, one of them will eventually bite.
Having hooked a “foreign fish” on the basis of trust and interest only in his wallet, a potential bride won’t let go until she gets the most out of it.
Indeed, she invites the future husband to Ukraine, spends 5 or 6 days with him and assures him of unearthly love. In most cases, the happy foreigner takes her to Crimea or gets her a room in a posh hotel, takes her out to restaurants and gives her expensive gifts.
Such an idyllic world quickly ends when the Ukrainian beauty that a future husband basically considered his spouse simply takes off with all her precious gifts. The abandoned bridegroom tries in desperation to find his dearly lost beloved through a marriage agency, an embassy or a travel agency to no avail.
As it quite often turns out, the beauty is basking in a Black Sea resort with another “love of her life”.

By Volodymyr Pimonenko