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+38044-4969171
"We are grateful to the agency for our introduction and assis-tance in Kiev and Australia.
Tina's adaptability and quick learning has meant we have had very few problems so therefore we have required very little assistance from you since Tina came to Australia. However prior to this, you were invaluable to both of us, especially in Kiev. Without Val & Era's assistance, it would have been nigh impossible to have met and brought Tina to Australia."
D. & T L - Mackay (1996)
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Hundreds of lonely Australian men are reaching out to fulfil their dreams of subservient wives.
SIMON BEVILACQUA talks to a Queensland couple matching Russian brides with Tasmanian men.
Val and Era
Girilovitch are in
Tasmania selling dreams to
lonely men.
The Queensland-based couple
connect Aussie men with Russian
women, with the intent to marry.
After advertising in newspapers
statewide during the past couple of
months, they have about 60
Tasmanian men keen to find
Russian brides.
Mr Girilovitch says Tasmania is like many remote or outback areas in Australia.
"Many men working in remote
areas, like farmers and miners, are
too busy working to find a wife," Mr
Girilovitch said. "They don't want
to go to the disco or the nightclubs
after work."
Mr Girilovitch has been
connecting Australian men with
Russian brides for nine years and
has co-ordinated about 270
marriages.
"About 90 per cent work out
perfectly," he said.
Mr Girilovitch admitted he did
not keep official statistics of the
success rate of the marriages but he
has kept in contact with many of
the couples he has united.
"They are extremely happy," he
said.
The Girilovitchs market their
Russian women to a particular
Aussie male.
"Most are in their 40s," he said.
In a letter he sends to prospective
husbands, he says Russian women
are more willing to serve, and "have
not had the influence of the
Women's Liberation movement and
Germaine Greer".
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He also says they tend to be"more openly sensuous as there has
not been some of the religious
taboos we Australians have
inherited".
And he says Russian women are
more willing to "serve and be
committed to duty" as a result of
being brought up in a strict
communist regime.
Mr Girilovitch says they are also
more grateful because they have
come from a less lucky country than
Australia. The system, he says, has
treated people badly in the
communist East and they are more
prepared to put up with adversity.
Mr Girilovitch says Russian
women understand their place in a
marriage. He says the Russian
term for marriage, Za Moozhem,
means "behind a man".
Agencies like the Girilovitchs'
have sprung up all around the
world and many use the worldwide
web to advertise.
A US Immigration and
Naturalisation Service report
estimated 150,000 women, most
from countries in political or
economic turmoil, advertise
themselves on the Internet.
More than 280 Russian women
were issued with Australian
spousal or fiancee visas last year.
There are no official records kept of how many marriages survive.
Russian-born actor Natalia
Novikova, who stars with Hugo
Weaving in the Australian movie
Russian Doll, came to Australia to
settle in Tasmania with an
Australian man.
The relationship broke down and Natalia went interstate to start her acting career.
Last year the Immigration
Department received almost 700
complaints surrounding Russian
brides — most from disgruntled
men who claimed their wives had
married them only to obtain a visa.
Mr Girilovitch says there are
failures but claims the success...
stories far outweigh them.
ALLA: Seeking a responsive man
with no bad habits.
The Girilovitchs came to
Tasmania armed with a portfolio of
Russian women.
There is Valya, a 31-year-old
manager with green eyes who
wants a "kind, purposeful,
compliant and thrifty" man.
Or Alla, a 42-year-old pharmacy assistant who wants a non-smoker who is kind, responsive and with no bad habits. Or Oksana, a 26-year-old chemist who wants a healthy,wealthy, sporty and reliable man.
"We encourage men to spend at
least a month conversing with the
women before flying over," Mr
Girilovitch said.
University of Tasmania women's
studies co-ordinator Barbara Baird
said she believed the way the
women were marketed said more
about some Australian men than
Russian women.
Dr Baird said Russian women
were not necessarily subservient,
as suggested in the marketing.
"This marketing is appealing to
the Australian men who could not
cope with women standing up to
them," she said."It's appealing to a fantasy of the
submissive exotic and it is a
concern that some men are trying to live out this fantasy.
Dr Baird said it was impossible to generalise about the motivations behind the Australian men or the Russian women.
She said the potential was there
for abusive men to play out their
fantasies on women who were
compliant because they were
desperate to get out of terrible
economic crisis.
"Some take the option to sell
themselves to men in rich countries
to get out of their desperate
position," Dr Baird said.
She said it was important that
services be provided for these
women, to support them if things
went wrong.
Westbury plumber Neil Carter
saw the Girilovitchs'
advertisements and last week
signed up to meet Russian women.
A former Tasmanian dairy
farmer of the year, the 54-year-old
says he wants a Russian bride for
altruistic reasons.
"I have always wanted to help
people and I see this as a chance to
help someone who is not as well off
as me," Mr Carter said.
Mr Carter's wife died nine years
ago and he said he had trouble
finding a new partner.
"I want to love someone again.
I'm a kind person, I work hard but
it's very hard to meet people," he
said.
"There are a lot of ladies here but
they're not what I want. I'm quiet. I
want a quiet woman, a decent
person."
April 7, 2002 THE SUNDAY TASMANIAN —15
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