On the New Year’s Eve, 53 young ladies from all over Russia gathered in Moscow to compete in the national beauty contest “Miss Russia 2004”.

For the first time in the history of the National festival of elegance and beauty “Miss Russia”, the most beautiful lady of the country was voted by the public, via Internet or SMS text messages.

19-year-old Diana Zaripova was crowned as the first beauty of the nation and will represent Russia in “Miss Europe” in Paris next month.

Junior at Moscow State University, Zaripova began her modeling career at the age of 15, when she became the 1st Vice-miss of Tatarstan. Since then, Diana has been working for many modeling agencies in Moscow and local designers, including Valentin Yudashkin.