Russian Buddhism
Buddhism is considered to be one of Russia's traditional religions and is legally a part of Russian historical heritage. Besides the historical monastic traditions of Buryatia, Tuva and Kalmykia (the latter being the only Buddhist-majority republic in Europe), the religion of Buddhism is now spreading all over Russia, with many ethnic Russian converts. There are now between 700,000 and 1.5 million Buddhists in Russia, mainly in the republics of Buryatia, Kalmykia and Tuva.