Dalai Lama leads prayers at Russian monastery

Thousands of Buddhist pilgrims trekked to a temple in the southern republic of Kalmykia today to join prayers led by the Dalai Lama on his first visit to Russia after years of being denied entry.

As believers set up small stools outside the elaborately decorated temple at the Khurul Monastery to await the morning prayers, the Dalai Lama sat inside under a gold statue of Buddha, surrounded by monks sitting on carpets.