> dorjieffs meeting with nicholas ii was arranged by the tsars close confidant, prince esper ukhtomskii (1861  1921). a theosophist, ukhtomskiis closest ally was count sergei witte, russias minister of finance and first cousin to blavatsky. when ukhtomskii accompanied nicholas ii while he was on his grand tour to the east, he made contact with blavatsky and olcott at the headquarters of the theosophical society at adyar, india, and promised to use his influence to push forward their projects. hinting at the nature of the russian ambitions he represented, ukhtomskii wrote, in our organic connection with all these lands lies the pledge of our future, in which asiatic russia will mean simply all asia. as he explained, > the bonds that unite our part of europe with iran and turan [central asia], and through them with india and the celestial empire [china], are so ancient and lasting that, as yet, we ourselves, as a nation and a state, do not fully comprehend their full meaning and the duties they entail on us, both in our home and foreign policy > by the 1890s, dorjieff had begun to spread the story that russia was the mythical land of shambhala, that nicholas ii was the white tsar that would save buddhism, raising hopes that he would support tibet and its religion. by 1903, both lord curzon, the viceroy of india, and francis younghusband became convinced that russia and tibet had signed secret treaties threatening the british interests in india and suspected that dorjieff was working for the russian's. the fear of russia drawing tibet into the great game to control the routes across asia was therefore a reason for the british invasion of tibet during 1903-4. according to legend, dorjieff then fled to mongolia with the dalai lama
Brazil