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THEY came to the party in miniskirts and stilettos - hundreds of young women prowling the dance floor for men. Forget love and commitment, they wanted someone with a Ferrari, a jet and a flat in Monte Carlo.
"A good millionaire hunter never lets anyone know she's a hunter," said Kira Vlasova, 19, a slim blonde. "She has to have an alluring look."
No subtleties here. The recent event at a posh Moscow nightclub was called Marry a Millionaire, and it and others like it seek to capitalise on a growing market of available young women looking for husbands among Russia's new wealthy class.
To help hunters on their quest, a pair of prominent Russian socialites last month released a how-to book, Marry a Millionaire, with suggestions including befriending tycoons' children at playgrounds.
There are about 75 billionaires in Russia, said Kirill Vishnepolsky, deputy editor of Forbes Russia, which publishes a list of the country's richest men.
And there are more than 100,000 millionaires, according to Alexander Morozov, HSBC's chief economist for Russia. Since 2003, the number of millionaires has grown by more than 25 per cent annually, he said.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, a wide divide has developed between the mega-wealthy and Russians who are just getting by in the new market economy.
"The desire to marry rich is a lot higher than in the various European countries because we, especially the youth, know our country is poor," said Lilia Ovcharova, of Moscow's Independent Institute for Social Policy.
Held recently at one of Moscow's most exclusive clubs, the Marry a Millionaire party attracted women desperate to escape the poor, soulless suburbs where they grew up. With the average monthly wage hovering around $US500 ($590), some Russian women are forgoing feminism and sentimentality.
More than 1500 people attended, about 60 per cent of them young women. Nearly all of the men were Russian, distinguishing this gathering from the US and European find-a-bride tours common since the Soviet Union collapsed.
Security men at the door vetted the crowd of women with "face control" - allowing in only the beautiful and well-dressed. Inside, wealthy men sat at reserved tables surrounded by crowds of leggy women.
Even the daughters of wealthy parents are obsessed with marrying rich, perhaps fearing they will lose it all to Russia's omnipresent corruption.
"I spend a lot of money - in a week $US300 or $US400. I couldn't marry a guy that's not rich because I want to live like I live now," said Vikki Kurova, 17, who drives a Porsche and whose father is in the steel business.
Vikki's requirements sound like a fairytale: "He should be smart, really handsome, tall, with a really good body, like some kind of prince. Black hair, really green eyes. He should have around $US45 million."
Tatyana Starostina, a 22-year-old interior designer, urged caution. "The millionaires here aren't looking for a bride," she said. "They want a girl for a maximum of one or two nights."
But the mystique of marrying a millionaire remains strong, fuelled by press reports that Roman Abramovich, Russia's richest man, with $US19.2 billion, was divorced this year. Speculation is also whirling about whom playboy metals magnate Mikhail Prokhorov - worth $US15 billion - will take as his bride.
It's not unheard of for a commoner to strike it lucky: Mr Abramovich's ex-wife was a flight attendant.
But time is not on the side of Moscow's millionaire chasers.
"If you want to be a millionaire's wife, you should be young, and of course beautiful," Vikki Kurova said. "All millionaires love young girls."
Cox News Service
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