MOSCOW - Russia's Foreign Ministry said Friday it would not let the Dalai Lama come for a visit, the second time in a year Moscow has refused to allow the leader of Tibetan Buddhists into the country.
Ministry spokesman Boris Malakhov said the decision was made after Buddhist organizations sought permission for the visit. He said Russia was concerned about political motivations for the visit.
Of particular concern was the proposed inclusion in the Dalai Lama's delegation of "representatives of the so-called government of Tibet in exile" and other nonreligious figures, Malakhov said in a statement released by the ministry.
He said the decision also took "into account the position of China, whose leadership is sharply negative regarding the political activities of the Dalai Lama."
Russia previously refused a visit proposed for last September.
Buddhists have frequently criticized Russia as submissive to China over Tibetan issues, especially during last summer's meeting in Moscow of the International Olympic Committee, when police forcefully broke up demonstrations by protesters who said Chinese violations of human rights in Tibet should disqualify the country from hosting the 2008 games.
Before the decision was announced Friday, demonstrators gathered outside the Foreign Ministry building to call for the visit to be allowed.
"Forbidding the Dalai Lama's entry into Russia will be considered a violation of the constitutional rights of all Buddhists in this country," said a demonstration leader, Damba Ayusheyev, according to the Interfax news agency.
Representatives of the Dalai Lama Center in Moscow could not be reached for comment after the refusal was announced.
Russia's government considers Buddhism one of its "traditional" faiths along with Islam, Judaism and Orthodox Christianity. It dates back to the 17th Century, when Buddhists first arrived in the Lake Baikal region of Siberia from Mongolia.
Russian Buddhists now number about 1 million, according to the Keston Institute, which monitors religious freedom in the former Communist world. About two-thirds of Russia's 144 million people are considered Orthodox Christians. /The Associated Press/
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