To the politically uninitiated, this gathering of Russian Buddhists might look like an advance party of President Vladimir Putin whose two-day visit falls precisely in the middle of these teachings. However, the reality is that the Buddhist Russians have travelled all the distance to India for Dalai Lama's teachings because Putin's government has been persistently shying away from issuing visa to the Tibetan leader for past ten years just to ensure that Beijing leaders are not enraged.
Dalai Lama has been to Russia five times since 1979. In 1992 he went to all the three Buddhist republics. But in 1991 he could go only to Buryatia. In 1996 he could visit Kalmykia only on a transit visit while flying to Mongolia. In 2004 too he could visit Kalmykia only for a day and half. On one occasion all Russian flights were cancelled just to ensure that Dalai Lama could not stop in Russia on his way to Mongolia. Changed status of Russia vis-a-vis China in the post USSR period has obliged Kremlin to keep the Chinese sensitivities on Tibet and Dalai Lama at top priority.
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Source:
http://buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=42,11243,0,0,1,0
