VolgaGirl: A Full-Service Russian Marriage Agency Provides Personalized Assistance to Single Men Around the World

The Short Version: The beautiful city of Tolyatti in Russia is home to VolgaGirl, a marriage agency that helps foreign singles meet and court local women. Western men can join for free to browse the marriage-minded women on the website. All women with profiles on VolgaGirl have been vetted by the team and verified as genuine individuals in search of a husband. Since its founding in 1999, VolgaGirl has facilitated thousands of introductions between compatible men and women and offered its clients personalized service, including delivering gifts, translating letters, and arranging airport pickup. If you’re looking to settle down, you can start a correspondence with potential life partners on VolgaGirl.

In 1999, an American named Craig traveled from his home in New Jersey to Tolyatti, a city located on the Volga River in western Russia. He met a nice single woman during his stay in Tolyatti and soon asked her to be his bride. Craig had found love on foreign soil, and he wanted to help other men do the same, so he founded VolgaGirl, a locally run marriage agency, to connect Western men with women in that area.

Elena Bessonova joined VolgaGirl in 2001 as a translator and now owns the marriage agency.

Seven years later, another American man decided to purchase the company after using its network to meet his future wife. Dave was impressed by VolgaGirl’s personalized service and wanted to make sure the team maintained a high-integrity approach to its matchmaking work.

From the beginning, Craig established certain principles that VolgaGirl still maintains. First of all, VolgaGirl services will always be free for women. Secondly, the marriage agency will offer a complete range of hands-on assistance to male clients. And last of all, VolgaGirl is a personalized service, meaning it does not do group tours or parties.

Elena Bessonova (known to many of her clients as Helen) started working for VolgaGirl as a translator in 2001, but she quickly worked her way up the ranks and became a manager. When Dave retired in 2017, Elena took over VolgaGirl. She now runs the company with the help of a fellow translator, an IT specialist, and some outsourced laborers. It’s a small staff with a large clientele of relationship-minded men and women.

Elena said that her first priority as the owner of VolgaGirl is to overhaul the old website and give it a modern polish. The new website will not only have a sleeker look, it will also offer male clients a free trial period during which they can communicate with potential love interests for free.

“I have been doing this job for over 15 years now, and I have yet to get bored with it,” Elena said. “Seeing successful couples makes this job a very rewarding one, truly.”

VolgaGirl does not currently have any membership fees or subscription packages. Women don’t have to pay anything to sign up and meet Western men — all they have to do is create a profile and pass a background check. Men can also join the network and browse profiles for free, but they have to pay to communicate with anyone who catches their eye.

The dating website offers a pay-per-message and pay-per-word credit system that allows men to chat safely without spending a lot of money. VolgaGirl also offers the services of a professional translator or interpreter to help members get their message across. This service is available for phone calls, video chats, and in-person meetings.

Single men join VolgaGirl to use its search engine to find an attractive love interest.

Male clients who are ready to take their relationship to the next level can book their travels through VolgaGirl, which can arrange for airport pickup, schedule meetings between members, and provide city tours.

Elena said some of their female members prefer to have first meetings at a local restaurant while others want to invite the man over for a family dinner. Whatever the case may be, the VolgaGirl team will assist with preparations and send a translator to help everything go smoothly. The team offers advice to men on Russian customs and facilitates introductions and follow-up dates. They can also arrange to send gifts, typically flowers, to the women in their network. “Basically, we perform the role close to that of his personal assistants,” Elena said. “While a customer is in Tolyatti, we are always just a call away, sometimes even in the middle of the night.”

VolgaGirl offers its women one-on-one English lessons as needed to give them a good chance of connecting with a Western man. The marriage agency can also help with the paperwork once a couple has decided to tie the knot. The agency’s visa support services can keep romances from getting caught in red tape and expedite the process of starting a new life together.

“We specifically emphasize with VolgaGirl ladies that this is an exclusively marriage-oriented website — not just for chatting or looking for friends,” Elena said.

The new VolgaGirl website will add a feature allowing members to upload a one-minute video introducing themselves to potential love interests. “We will continue offering free registration and free profile browsing for both males and females,” Elena said, “as well as free photo upload and exchange, and free human translation of their profiles for the photo gallery.”

Most of the women with profiles on VolgaGirl live in or near the city of Tolyatti, which has over 700,000 residents. Elena said that centralization is great for foreign clients because they can chat with multiple women on the website and then visit one area to meet them all in a single trip.

“This approach is fair to all the parties involved,” Elena said, “as long as they view correspondence as a way to first get to know each other as personalities — with the potential of becoming life partners later.”

“The majority of our clients are just average people from America or some other country.” — Elena Bessonova, Owner of VolgaGirl

VolgaGirl’s female members range in age from 25 to 45. These women tend to be college-educated and employed in professional careers in the town. They come to the VolgaGirl office because they have a sincere interest in finding a husband and are willing to relocate for the right partner because they’re attracted to the security of marriage.

The average male client at VolgaGirl is a mature and successful Westerner who wants to get married and have a family. “If you choose to marry a Russian lady,” said Martin, a VolgaGirl client, “you cannot be in better hands than VolgaGirl.”

Over the years, VolgaGirl has collected many success stories from couples who met, got married, and started families thanks to the international dating service. The company has seen couples move to the US, Australia, Canada, the UK, Germany, France, Japan, and other countries to be together.

VolgaGirl’s personalized approach to international matchmaking has yielded great results.

According to the website, 75% of clients who corresponded with two or more women on VolgaGirl are currently engaged or married to someone they met on the site.

“Sometimes Russian ladies from Tolyatti, who literally lived next door to one another since they were kids or were classmates and school friends, end up relocating to the same country,” Elena told us. “We do our best to keep in touch with VolgaGirl couples throughout the years.”

“Your service is outstanding,” said Bobby, a Texas client who got engaged to someone he met through VolgaGirl. “Helen was very helpful, patient, informative, supportive, and professional.”

“I have had many exciting moments in my life, but I will never forget this adventure,” said Gary, a client from Oregon. “Olga and I are truly one of the many successful couples. We wish you much joy, love, and peace of mind.”

Since its early days in 1999, VolgaGirl has served thousands of clients with dedication and integrity. The matchmaking and support services give singles the chance to cross borders and overcome cultural differences when seeking a long-term relationship. Western men can sign up for a free membership to take a look at the women available in this international dating network.

VolgaGirl promises that 85% of its female members live within minutes of its office in Tolyatti, so Western singles can meet hand-selected and viable date prospects during a hassle-free trip to Russia. The hands-on team assists with the logistics, including translations and visa requests, and ensures that nothing stands between a man and woman who want to be together.

“We are much smaller than other marriage and dating sites,” Elena said, “but we at VolgaGirl like to think we have been putting a lot of effort into quality over quantity. We are tangible, reachable, and personable.”