Peterburgian Vedism "to know" ("vedat")—a semantic root which is shared in Slavic and Sanskrit languages alike—, and it expresses the difference between sight or knowledge and dogmatic belief ("verit"), the latter being typical of non-Vedic doctrines. According to one of the contemporary leaders of the Peterburgian Vedic movement, Roman Perin, "Rodnovery" defines the practised religion, while "Vedism" defines the philosophy or knowledge at its core. Vedism therefore is not a religion but pure knowledge. According to Bezverkhy, dogmatic religions such as Christianity, but also Brahmanism (the successor of Vedism in India), were created in order to control the masses. Bezverkhy codified his
Religion in Russia in [[Kaliningrad Oblast]]. In cities like Moscow, Saint Petersburg and [[Samara]], often up to 1% of the population identify as Buddhists. Buddhism in Russia is almost exclusively of the [[Tibetan Buddhism|Tibetan]] [[Vajrayana]] schools, especially [[Gelug]] but increasingly also [[Nyingma]] and [[Kagyu]] ([[Diamond Way Buddhism]]). There are many Russian converts, and the newer schools have been often criticised by representatives of the Gelug as the result of a Russianised ("Rossiysky") Buddhism and of Western Buddhist missionaries. [[File:A Russian Hindu girl.jpg|thumb|A Russian Hindu girl.]] Hinduism, especially in the forms of Krishnaism, [[historical Vedic religion|Vedism]] and [[Tantra|Tantrism]], but also in other forms, has