Russian social media app Vkontakte launches dating app to compete with Tinder

Russian social network Vkontakte, owned by internet group Mail.Ru, has launched a dating app to rival popular similar services such as Tinder, Vkontakte said on Thursday.

It said the main feature of the service, called Lovina, would be video chats. It is available in Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan and some other countries.

Mediascope research company called Tinder, Badoo, Mamba and Hornet the most popular online dating services among Russians.

In June, Roskomnadzor, Russia's telecoms and media regulator, said Tinder had been added to its special register. Tinder said it had agreed to be added to the list of entities obliged to hand over user data and messages to Russian law enforcement agencies on demand, but had not divulged anyone's personal information yet.