(Clearwisdom.net) Located in the north of the Asia-Europe plate, the state of Russia spreads across Eastern Europe and Northern Asia, bounded by the Arctic Ocean in the North, the Pacific Ocean in the East and the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea in the West. It has a total area of 17,075,200 square kms and a population of about 150 million.

As in over seventy other countries and regions around the world, Falun Gong has spread widely in Russia with its "Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance" principles and great effectiveness in improving the health of both mind and body. Since the establishment of the first practice site in St. Petersburg in 1999, there are now instruction centers and practice sites in over twenty cities and regions. From St. Petersburg near the Atlantic Ocean to Sakhalin Island at the Pacific Ocean, and from Archangelsk close to the North Pole to Stavropolsky in the South boundary, there are Falun Gong practitioners everywhere. Falun Gong practitioners can be seen practicing the exercises, promoting the teachings and exposing the persecution of Falun Gong in the streets, art exhibitions and health Expos.

Group exercise during the 1st Russian Falun Gong Experience Sharing Conference in St. Petersburg

The First Nine-Day Video-Lecture Session

Regarding the spread of Falun Gong in Russia, practitioners will never forget the warm and kind help from practitioners in Mainland China. The first practice site was established by a veteran practitioner from China's Tsinghua University in St. Petersburg in August 1996. In November 1997, a group of seventeen practitioners, consisting of University Professors, experts and scholars of Russian translations and some Beijing veteran practitioners, came to Russia and brought with them the lecture video tapes of Mr. Li Hongzhi, founder of Falun Gong. They used their own money to take the week-long train trip from Manzhouli to St. Petersburg, and organized the first screening of the nine-day lecture videos. Attending the class were local residents of St. Petersburg and people on business-trips, visitors and tourists. It seemed by chance that these people came to this city and saw a small notice at the entrances to the Metro or in another buildings and joined this class. They then started their cultivation journey as practitioners of Falun Gong. These veteran practitioners then brought Falun Gong to other places. From then on, Falun Gong practice sites were established in many other cities.

The first nine-day lecture screening in St. Petersburg, 1997

The West--St. Petersburg

St. Petersburg, Russia's second largest city, is very beautiful. There are over 1000 well-preserved ancient tourist sites. St. Petersburg was once the capital of Russia and is thus full of culture and history. This city is known as the "Northern Venice" with lots of canals and bridges. A group of Falun Gong practitioners live here. Among them are teachers, professionals and retired seniors. There are also families of three generations cultivating Falun Gong together.

Since the Chinese Communist regime started its brutal and illegal persecution of Falun Gong on July 20th 1999, in order to let people learn the truth about Falun Gong, many practitioners in St. Petersburg always carry Falun Gong leaflets with them and give them to people in the Metro, buses and in offices.

Every Saturday is practitioners' day to promote Falun Gong at an entrance to the Metro. They have almost visited every Metro station (the city has 59 Metro stations), with a few stations having been visited many times over. Especially for a few retired veteran practitioners, although they have very limited income, they often use their own money to travel to the east and surrounding countries to let more people know about Falun Gong and the ongoing brutal persecution of innocent people in China.

Practitioners also keep up their protest at the Chinese Consulate, appealing for an end to the persecution of Falun Gong in China. People visiting the Consulate can see their banners. As long as the persecution continues, the protest will not stop.

There is a special group at the St. Petersburg train station who are there to welcome Chinese tourists. As a renowned tourist site, St. Petersburg receives many Chinese tourists every day. In order to let these precious Chinese people learn the truth about Falun Gong in this free country, more than ten practitioners in the city have voluntarily formed a group and they go to the train station in turn to give out truth-clarifying materials. For three years now, they have been there every day, be it freezing winter or hot summer, windy or wet. Just this summer they gave out over 20,000 leaflets, which were paid for using practitioners' own savings. After the publication of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party by the Epoch Times newspaper, in order to let the Chinese people learn the evil nature of the Chinese Communist Party and understand the reason behind the regime's persecution of Falun Gong and its long history of persecuting Chinese people, practitioners started distributing the Nine Commentaries. The busy train stations are always filled with people. To better clarify the truth to the Chinese people, practitioners all learned to say a few sentences in Chinese. The response from the Chinese people has become better and better. Many visiting senior Chinese officials not only take the Nine Commentaries themselves, they also encourage other members to take it. Sometimes the tour leaders do not allow people to accept the material, but people ask for the materials once the tour leader is paying attention to something else.

The North: Home of a prophecy

The state of Archangelsk is located in the north of Russia's European section. It covers a vast area with little population and is normally very cold. This cold but fertile land had some very unusual experiences. Between 1923 and the 1950s, under the USSR Communist Party's control, the state had many concentration camps and forced labor camps in which political dissidents were persecuted. People here suffered greatly.

During this period of hardship, a prophecy was widely spread among the poor villages: it said that in the near future, a man with a wheel would come to save people. Although people could not understand it, they remember it in their hearts.

When Falun Gong was brought here, an elderly gentleman opened the first page of Zhuan Falun, the main teaching of Falun Gong, and said suddenly after seeing the Falun emblem and the picture of Falun Gong's founder Mr. Li: "Isn't this the man with the wheel?" He then told his descendants, "This is a wonderful book. You must study it with diligence and cultivate well."

An instruction center and a practice site have been established for more than two and a half years now. Practitioners here are very diligent. The tough environment has tempered their simple and pure character. They treasured Falun Gong greatly once they obtained it. They say often, "We will do whatever teacher Li teaches us to do." They study Falun Gong diligently and go everywhere to promote Falun Gong. More and more people have started to cultivate in Falun Gong. This year the region held its first Falun Gong experience-sharing conference. They have also received widespread support from local and state levels.

The East: The Story of Eight Young Men

People on Sakhalin Island in Eastern Russia learned Falun Gong through eight young men. In the beginning of 1998, these eight young men went to China for sightseeing. In a Park in Beijing, they saw a group of people practicing the exercises. They were deeply attracted by its gentle movements and solemn energy field and started to follow the movements. They quickly grasped the five sets of exercises with the patient guidance of Chinese practitioners. Practitioners also helped them to find a copy of the introductory book China Falun Gong in Russian. Upon returning home, they established a practice site. This is the Russia's most eastern practice site.

Due to the remoteness of the place, it is very difficult to travel around, and thus hard to share their cultivation experience with the others. It took them almost half a month to attend the Falun Gong experience-sharing conference in Moscow (by train, boat and train). Despite the tough environment, they have kept up their cultivation and efforts to expose the persecution.

The South: Practitioners in Pyatigorsk

Pyatigorsk is located in the region Stavropolsky in South Russia. In 1997, two practitioners from St. Petersburg returned home for the New Year and brought Falun Gong to their native city. Since then there are more and more people with predestined relations joining the cultivation practice.

All local practitioners are westerners. In the past 9 years, they have been tireless in promoting Falun Dafa and clarifying the truth of the persecution with practitioners' compassion and righteous thoughts.

Pyatigorsk is surrounded by five mountains. It is renowned for its Spring Spas. The natural scenery is very beautiful with mild weather. Therefore it attracts many tourists every year. Taking advantage of this unique situation, practitioners have been continuously clarifying the truth of Falun Gong. Many tourists have thus learned about the beauty of Falun Gong and the truth of the Chinese Communist regime's persecution of Falun Gong.

The story of practitioners in Pyatigorsk clarifying the truth to the Chinese people is very touching. There is a very large retail market in this city. Several thousand Chinese run businesses here. Since July 20th 1999, practitioners have never stopped telling the facts about Falun Gong to these Chinese people who are heavily poisoned by the Chinese Communist regime's lies and slanders. It was quite hard at the beginning. Russian practitioners who went to clarify the truth were often surrounded and attacked by the Chinese. In one incident Russian police with rifles who were not aware of the facts even pushed them away. Faced with a tough environment, practitioners didn't back down. They have actively exposed the persecution to the management of the market, government organizations and Chinese business people. With practitioners' persistent efforts, people learned the truth about Falun Gong. The management of the market and police no longer interfere with practitioners' activities. Many Chinese business people learned the truth. Now many Chinese people come to practitioners asking for Falun Gong materials.

The Russian People Support Falun Gong

Falun Gong has been spreading in Russia for nine years now. Due to the great efforts of practitioners in all regions who have diligently clarified the truth to governments of different levels and citizens, the Russian people recognize more and more the principles of "Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance" and Falun Gong's great benefits to the health of mind and body. They also learned more about the Chinese Communist regime's brutal persecution of Falun Gong.

During an activity in Moscow, an elderly lady stayed in front of the exhibition boards for a long time. She then came to the table to sign the petition calling for the end to the persecution. She told practitioners: "It's so familiar." One could see that in her heart, she had an unforgettable memory. The Russian people suffered greatly under the dictatorship of the world's first Communist regime. The Russian Communist party murdered over twenty million people during over seventy years while it was in power. Many people were persecuted for no reason in the labor camps, were abused in the mental hospitals and were sent to remote places. On December 26th 1991, the Soviet Union was dissolved. The federation of Russia was formed. Without the control of Russia's evil Communist Party, Russia's economy has developed steadily over the past ten years. Russia also made great progress in protecting citizen's democratic rights and freedom of belief. The Russian people feel deeply disgusted by the terrible violence still existing today and many of them came to sign our petition calling for an end to the persecution. Local government officials and police also often say to practitioners during Falun Gong activities: "This is Russia, not China. We support you."

The Communist Party of the Soviet Union has been disposed of for fifteen years now. Today over eight million Chinese people in China have withdrawn from the Chinese Communist Party and its affiliated organizations. More and more people have seen through the evil nature of the Chinese Communist Party and have learned about the truth of Falun Gong. The Chinese Communist regime's persecution of Falun Gong will not last long!

Source http://clearharmony.net/articles/200602/31641.html