A criminal case was opened against the Deputy Chairman of the Congress of the Oirat-Kalmyk Nation, Vladimir Dovdanov, for calling for activities directed against the security of Russia. Dovdanov himself learned about the case from a Kavkaz.Realii correspondent.
According to the Sapa Yug telegram channel, a criminal case was opened due to a video published in September in which Dovganov calls on the Ukrainian Armed Forces to destroy Russian equipment.
The source of information was not specified; law enforcement agencies did not publicly announce the initiation of a case. At the same time, the channel provides details, for example, about the activist’s emigration to Lithuania and his non-return to Russia, which can only be known to law enforcement agencies.
“In my videos and interviews, I constantly speak out in support of Ukraine. I am also ready to participate in the gathering of the Kalmyk volunteer formation if the leadership of Ukraine makes such a decision. We will still liberate our republic and will be independent from Moscow; we are not on the same path with the Russians,” commented Dovdanov.
He clarified that he has not lived in Russia since March 2022. He is not aware of any subpoenas or calls to law enforcement agencies.
Vladimir Dovdanov – Deputy Chairman of the Congress of the Oirat-Kalmyk Nation, member of the League of Free Nations. In 1991 he organized and headed the Republican Taekwondo Federation. In 2004–2005, he worked as the Minister of Youth Policy, Sports and Tourism of Kalmykia, then as the head of the territorial department of the Federal Service for Financial Markets in the Volgograd and Astrakhan regions.
- Dovdanov is one of the authors of the declaration “On State Independence of the Republic of Kalmykia”. Previously, the document was included in the list of extremist materials. Before being added to the list of “foreign agents,” the Elista city court fined Dovdanov 70 thousand rubles for calls to violate the territorial integrity of Russia. In an interview, the activist spoke about his attitude to this status, the tasks of national movements and the future of Kalmykia.
- After the start of a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukrainian territory in 2022, representatives of several republics of the North Caucasus declared their intention to fight for independence. Kyiv gave a political impetus to this process when the inter-factional group “For a Free Caucasus” was created in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine in June. Since then, representatives of the nations of Chechnya, Dagestan, Kabardino-Balkaria and Kalmykia have declared their intention to defend sovereignty in various formats. They were later joined by supporters of the independence of Ingushetia.
