According to the Indian embassy, there are approximately 14,000 Indians in Russia. In addition to this, there are also about 1500 Afghan nationals of Indian origin.[1]
In the late eighteenth century, Russian traveller Pallas noted the presence of hundreds of MultaniVaiṣṇava Hindu merchant families at the mouth of the Volga river.[2]
The Hindustani Samaj is the oldest Indian organization to be set up in Russia, in 1957.[1] The Jawaharlal Nehru Cultural Center was opened in 1989 for propagating Indian culture in Russia. Its idea was conceived after the great success of the Festival of India, held in 1988 in USSR.[3]
In May 2022, two consignments of medicine were sent to Russian soldiers during the war in Ukraine, under the initiative of Disha: Russian-Indian friendship society. This society was founded in Moscow by Rameshwar Singh, who is an influential Indian origin journalist and businessman in Moscow.[4]
A majority of Indians living in Russia are Hindus, with other populations including Christians of Indian origin, Muslims, and Sikhs.
Hinduism is practised in Russia, though most ignore it, primarily by followers of the Vaishnava Hindu organization International Society for Krishna Consciousness, Brahma Kumaris and by itinerant swamis from India.[5] There is an active Tantra Sangha operating in Russia.
^Entwistle, Alan William (1982). The Rāsa Māna ke Pada of Kevalarāma: A Medieval Hindi Text of the Eigth Gaddī of the Vallabha Sect (Phd thesis). University of London. pp. 89–90.
