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Miss Universe contest to take place in Moscow for first time

Contenders from 86 countries will compete for the title of the planet's most beautiful girl

MOSCOW, November 5 (Itar-Tass) - The Miss Universe beauty contest will be officially opened in Moscow on Tuesday.

The Russian capital for the first time hosts the show, in which contenders from 86 countries will compete for the title of the planet's most beautiful girl.

The contest will be held in two stages. It will take place in the Crocus City Hall of almost 7,000-people capacity. The semifinal will be held here on Tuesday, when the jury will choose 16 girls. Who will be named as the most beautiful will be known only on November 9 in the final, which will be broadcast to 190 countries. More than one billion people will watch it.

Though the contest begins only this Tuesday, the 86 participants have been here for two weeks already. During the time, the girls walked on Red Square, were at the Bolshoi Theater and participated in Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week and a show of national dresses. Contest participants also visited children in the Dmitry Rogachev Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Immunology Centre. They came with gifts and spent several hours with children and their parents in the hospital.

Nineteen-year-old Elmira Abdrazakova represents Russia at the contest. She believes a key to success is to show personality. "I think one should be oneself and show the personality, energy and charisma to win, and each of the contenders has all these," she said in the interview with Itar-Tass.

The Miss Universe contest was organized in the United States in 1952. Billionaire Donald Trump during the Miss U.S. show announced that the contest would be held in Moscow for the first time. Trump said he believed it would be the largest and the best contest ever watched.

The first and the only Miss Universe from Russia was Oksana Fyodorova in 2002.