The Russian-language version of Men’s Health magazine debuted last month. All right, go ahead, snicker if you like, but guess what: People are buying it.

Granted, the numbers seem paltry by U.S. standards–50,000 issues at nearly $4 a pop for the January-February edition. But Independent Media, which produces Men’s Health in Russia, is satisfied with the first run and hopes to increase those figures as the year goes on.

This despite full knowledge, according to doctors and demographers, that of all the people on the planet, the average Russian male is among the least healthy and most likely to die young. Russian men, as a group, drink too much, eat all the wrong things, smoke like Bogart and exercise nary a lick.

Their life expectancy has now fallen to 58, which means that 67-year-old President Boris Yeltsin is actually a model of longevity. So, naturally, Independent Media publishes a magazine aimed at persuading guys to cut out the fat and work out their muscles.

“It seemed crazy at first,” said publisher Karen Dukess, who also runs the Russian-language Playboy. “For a long time, we would alternate between saying, `Yeah, this is a great magazine for Russia. Now is the time.’ “And then something would happen, like I would realize that every man I know here smokes, and I would think: `This is insane. We can’t do this.’ ”

But they did it anyway, kicking off Men’s Health with a party where cigarette smoke hung in the air, booze flowed and guests munched on sandwiches made not of sprouts and tuna but of roast beef. That bash was not the only concession Men’s Health is making to Russia.

Editor Ilya Bezouglyi said the magazine will go easy at first on some of the “don’t’s” of healthy living. There will be toned-down lectures on the evils of nicotine, alcohol and saturated fats, and a lot on information on
dressing for success, working with the boss, meeting women and, of course, sex.

“I have a lot of friends who used to read women’s magazines to get information about women, what they actually think about us,” said Bezouglyi, 29, who is not only unfairly good-looking but might be buffed enough to pass for one of his magazine’s models. “There’s no established communication between males and females in this country, because, traditionally, women are looked down upon.”

Bezouglyi’s English, down to some colorful expressions, is about perfect, and the trace of a Boston accent peeks through, courtesy of his days at Northeastern University. More than half of the first issue–the publishers hope to go monthly one day–is material translated and adapted from the British or American versions of Men’s Health. Editors hope to boost their Russian-generated material and will pay particular mind to such issues as male-female and workplace relationships–themes in which the language is not the only aspect that might need to be translated.

Part of what drove Independent Media’s decision to launch Men’s Health was fear that some other group might start a men’s magazine and encroach on Russian Playboy, which now sells about 150,000 copies a month. Independent already publishes Russian-language Good Housekeeping, Harper’s Bazaar, Marie Claire and the 500,000-circulation giant Cosmopolitan.

Rodale Press, the U.S. parent of Men’s Health, sold Independent Media on their brand by pointing to the magazine’s success in other markets where people said it would never fly: Britain, Germany, Latin America.
“Their basic premise is: Men are men everywhere,” Dukess said. “There are basic things about health and fitness and how you look and feel. We’re not going for every Russian man. We’re not even going for the average Russian man. But neither is Men’s Health in America.”

Startup costs for the Russian Men’s Health are a pittance compared with what rolling out a magazine would cost in the United States, so a 50,000-issue first run is respectable. Dukess won’t say what a break-even circulation for Men’s Health might be or how long Independent Media will stay with it should the magazine’s “abs” start sagging. But all of Independent’s other magazines have broken even or started to turn a profit within a year, she said.

The company is able to minimize risks by forcing its exclusive distributors to specify how many copies they will buy before each of its magazines is printed. Independent then runs off only that number, and there
can be no returns.

If all the jokes about Men’s Health in Russia have grated on the magazine’s small staff, they don’t show it. They are all young and, Bezouglyi said, optimistic about the future not only of their magazine but of their country as well.

“People here are sick and tired of all the instability and all these extremes,” he said. “Now they’re just trying to establish some kind of normal, quiet, stable life with stable relationships and good health. Middle-class values, you know?” Bezouglyi does not smirk or give a knowing wink, even if the middle class in Russia is still a struggling minority. Snickers have a way of subsiding once orders start rolling in.