The congratulatory message reads, in part:
“This event had decisive significance for the Buryat people’s future and bound them solidly to our country’s other peoples in a single multiethnic state. Over these long years the people of Buryatia have toiled for Russia’s good, defended its sovereignty and territorial integrity, and made a great contribution to the victory over Nazism.
The voluntary and conscious choice that Buryatia made 350 years ago enabled the region to attain a new level of social and economic development. Today, Buryatia produces a wide range of industrial goods – everything from medicines and construction materials to sophisticated instruments and modern aviation equipment.
Your region is deservedly considered one of the country’s most stable regions in terms of interethnic and interfaith relations. People of more than 100 different ethnic groups, representing the majority of our country’s religions, live together here in peace and harmony.
Buryatia’s rich cultural and historical traditions are inseparable from the Buddhist faith. The republic is home to the spiritual centre of the Russian traditional Buddhist Sangkhi – the famous Ivolgin monastery.
The life of Buryatia’s people is closely intertwined with Lake Baikal, which is officially recognised as a unique part of the world’s natural heritage. Preserving the Baikal biosphere has immense importance for the whole of humanity.
The efforts to continue developing the region’s potential must help to improve the situation in the social sector and raise people’s living standards. I am sure that through your combined efforts you will achieve this most important goal.”