Short answers, pulled from the story.
Tuva lies at the geographical center of Asia, in southern Siberia, within the Russian Federation. It borders the Altai Republic, Buryatia, Irkutsk Oblast, Khakassia, and Krasnoyarsk Krai internally, and shares a 1,305-kilometer international border with Mongolia to the south.
Tuva was annexed by the Soviet Union in 1944, with the approval of the Tuvan parliament, the Little Khural, but without a public referendum. It became the Tuvan Autonomous Oblast within the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, then was elevated to the Tuvan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic on the 10th of October 1961.
Tuvan throat singing, known as khoomei, is a technique in which a singer simultaneously produces a fundamental tone and an overtone. It can be heard through the Tuvan National Orchestra and at events such as International Khoomei Day, held at the National Tuvinian Theatre in Kyzyl.
Tibetan Buddhism and shamanism are the two main traditions in Tuva. A 2012 survey found 61.8% of the population adhering to Buddhism and 8% to Tengrism or Tuvan shamanism. Tuvans and the Yellow Uyghurs of China are the only two Turkic groups in the world who are primarily Buddhist.
The Russian population of Tuva fell by 70% from its 1989 peak, when Russians made up 32% of the population, to 10.1% by the 2021 census. A wave of violence against the Russian community in 1990, including 168 reported murders and attacks on outlying settlements, prompted a large exodus.
Salchak Toka was the leader of the Tuvan People's Revolutionary Party and served as First Secretary of the Tuvan Communist Party from the Soviet annexation in 1944 until his death in 1973. Under his leadership, ethnic Russians received full citizenship rights while Buddhist and Mongol influences on Tuvan society were systematically curtailed.