The Dalai Lama arrived in Elista, the capital of the Russian internal republic of Kalmykia, on Monday.
Dalai Lama XIV did not plan any meetings on his first day in Russia. His two-day trip will include a service in a local Buddhist temple and its consecration. People will be able to see the Dalai Lama at his four-hour-long sermon, the Gazeta.Ru website reported.
On Dec. 1, the Dalai Lama will leave Russia for Bangalore.
Kalmykia, along with two other mainly Buddhist regions of Russia, Buryatia and Tyva, have been asking for the Dalai Lama to be allowed to visit for a long time, but the Russian authorities had refused, reluctant to spoil relations with China. The Dalai Lama’s arrival was delayed several times.
Dalai Lama gets floral welcomein Russia
Source: ANI
Moscow, November 29 – Buddhist faithful in southern Russia on Monday gave a floral welcome to Tibetan s spiritual leader, The Dalai Lama.
According to the Telegraph, a day earlier, volunteers scrubbed floors, vacuumed carpets and cleaned the windows of a monastery outside Elista, the capital of the Kalmykia region, before the Dalai Lama’s arrival.
Kalmykia’s flamboyant leader Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has held regular meetings with the Tibetan leader and campaigned tirelessly for his visit to Russia.
The Dalai Lama, who has not visited the province on the north-west coast of the Caspian Sea since 1992, is expected to stay on until Wednesday.
