Craig & Arina Rich
February 13, 1999

As the American founder and former owner of A Volga Girl, I married my beautiful young Russian wife as recently as February 13, 1999. At 43 years old and having been a lifelong single, I began my own marriage quest in Aug. of 1997 when I first discovered that there were numerous Russian bride sites as close as my internet connection. The purchase of 30+ addresses followed immediately thereafter, and I literally did nothing with them until approximately six months later. After quickly narrowing the field to 2 or 3women over the next few months, and following an unsuccessful trip to Ukraine to meet one of those women, I quickly rebounded and in the same summer of 1998, I spent two weeks with my then-future-wife Arina touring the Czech Republic.

"Free services" for male clients as advertised on numerous competing site's equates to fees paid by the ladies on the other end. We suggest that if a man is truly serious in his intentions to find a Russian bride, he should fully-subsidize all of her correspondence requirements & show good faith in the relationship-building process. Russia is a poor country, and most all of the girls cannot afford, without measurable financial hardship, to pay the costs of either frequent e-mails or foreign language translations.