Date:18/08/2002 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2002/08/18/stories/2002081805010102.htm

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Russia bars Dalai Lama

By Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW AUG. 17. Russian Buddhists vowed to protest a ban on a visit of the Dalai Lama to this country. The Russian Foreign Ministry on Friday refused to issue him a visa citing political considerations.

The Buddhist leader of Buryatia, Damba Ayusheyev, described the ban as "a violation of the constitutional rights of all Buddhists'' in Russia and said his followers wouldl stage a sit-in protest in front of the Foreign Ministry in Moscow.