Yakut Woman Competes in Miss Universe for Serbia

Yakut woman Elena Egorova is participating in the Miss Universe 2025 competition, which is currently taking place in Thailand. However, she is representing not Russia, but Serbia. Who is Elena, what titles has she won, and why was her swimsuit photo displayed on a state TV channel with condemnation?

Roots from Mongolia

Elena is 177 centimeters tall (5 feet 10 inches), she is 28 years old, and she is from Mirny. In 2018, she won the title «Snow Beauty of Yakutia,» after which her modeling career took off. In 2020, Elena participated in the Miss Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) competition but failed to win the crown.

The correspondent from 14.RU was unable to speak with the model because she blocked her after the interview proposal.

To the Yakut publication SakhaTime, Elena said that until she was 14, she was called Alena, but then her mother insisted on changing her name. She considers her childhood happy.

«I had a happy childhood, I was raised by a single mother, and I had a best friend with whom we were like sisters. In school, I wasn’t very sociable, I studied constantly: in the morning at the lyceum, and in the afternoon I had either a sports section, or architecture school, or music. I studied 12 hours every day, I was a nerd, a completely unsociable child. Children laughed at me in school, I had an awkward physique: I was very tall and thin. Plus braces and acne. I didn’t get along with my peers,» Elena said in an interview.

In various interviews, she noted that her parents lived in Mongolia, then moved to Yakutia and settled in Mirny. Her father is Tatar, her mother is Yakut. As reported by Komsomolskaya Pravda in Yakutia, the girl’s parents are entrepreneurs.

After a successful career in her homeland, Elena began to conquer international competitions. In November 2019, the beauty reached the finals of the Miss Model of the World competition in China. In 2022, she represented Mongolia at the Miss Grand International competition but failed to win the crown there as well.

Involved in a Swimsuit Scandal and More

The beauty was also involved in scandals: Elena Egorova was discussed in a live broadcast of the program «Talban» on the Yakut TV channel NVK «Sakha».

The topic of discussion was provocative photos of Yakut girls, host Oleg Kolesov-Talban mentioned Egorova, showing her photo in a swimsuit. However, the model’s face was blurred. In the discussion, it was concluded that this is what girls look like who have lost their morality and promote depraved behavior.

The episode then caused a backlash, Yakut women even started a flashmob where they published their swimsuit photos under the hashtag #talbanism. They expressed words of support for Egorova. The model herself demanded an apology from the host but never received one.

In 2022, the girl appeared on the NTV channel program «Intim za den’gi» (Intimacy for Money), where she talked about how she became a victim of fraudsters: unknown persons asked her to undress to her underwear under the pretext of a casting for a music video shoot.

«They told me to walk in front of the camera in lingerie. Which I did. After that, they told me that they made a recording, would attach it to my photos and overlay some screenshots of conversations that they themselves made, and accuse me of prostitution. I was in shock because of the fabricated kompromat (compromising material),» Elena said in the segment.

The fraudsters demanded money: first 15,000 rubles (about $160 at current rates), then 20,000 rubles (about $210), then 40,000 rubles (about $420). And Elena initially paid, but then decided to stop. She believes that such actions jeopardize not only her career but also marriage, family, and friendship.

That same year, photos of Elena on vacation with billionaire Moishe Mana were made public. They were taken in April 2021 and are still in the man’s account.

Moishe Mana is an American billionaire of Israeli origin, it is stated that he is involved in real estate.

Then Elena commented on the photo to the publication Sakha Day, saying that it was a work trip.

«An acquaintance of mine works for him. He has a large company. So she invited me, said that she would help me get a job in the USA. I decided to go and meet him, but it didn’t work out because I have a low level of English proficiency,» she told the publication.

Miss Universe 2025

The competition of the most beautiful girls in the universe this time is being held in Thailand, on the Phuket peninsula. The final of the competition will take place on November 21 in Bangkok, with 26 girls from around the world competing for the crown.

Elena is representing Serbia this year. This was written by the Russian-language Serbian website «My Serbia». It also stated what Elena has been doing recently. It turned out that she lived in Moscow and was engaged in software development.

Many were surprised by the contestant’s choice, but Egorova obtained a passport of this country and has every right to participate in the competition. On social media, users are discussing this choice. Their opinions vary: some support, while others condemn, saying that an Asian woman should not represent Serbia.

The beauties this year will be judged on their performances in four main segments: personal interview, national costume presentation, evening gown presentation, and swimsuit presentation.

Yakut media and public pages picked up the joyful news, but apparently, Elena Egorova is not happy when she is talked about in her homeland. Thus, she sent an angry letter to the editorial office of Sakha Day, in which she criticized the work of their journalists and suggested that all articles are commissioned, and they are ordered by «fat women.»

Elena is actively participating in preparations for all upcoming stages of the competition. To find out if she won or not, one can watch on November 21: the final will be broadcast on Telemundo, Roku TV Azteca channels.