Speed dating comes to Moscow

It's conquered New York and London – now Moscow is catching on to the speed dating craze, and there appear to be plenty of willing volunteers. However, nobody knows how the idea will work in Moscow.

It’s a simple concept.  Get two groups of men and women in a restaurant, pair them up and get them talking to one another.  Then after a few minutes, the guys get up and move on to their next mini date.

Everyone writes down the names of their potential matches then, the next day the organisers send you an email with the contact details of those who felt the same way.

So, it could be less than 24 hours before you’re setting up your next date, or wondering how you managed to be so wrong about last night’s Miss Right.

“It can be very common soon because everyone’s so busy now…they don’t have enough time to look for a man or a woman, so we’ll see,” says Anna.

Does this mean the end of traditional Russian romance? 

“I think there’s still a romantic culture in Russia. It is still at the heart of the Russian soul. This speed dating concept means that you just talk to different people, you don’t have to marry, you have time to think about the second interview and have romance afterwards. It is perfect,” persuades one of the organizers.