The Ministry of Internal Affairs has put the deputy head of the Congress of the Oirat-Kalmyk people, Vladimir Dovdanov, on the wanted list. Mediazona journalists found his name in the department’s database .
The wanted card does not indicate the article for which the politician was put on the wanted list. He is probably being sought in the case of calls for activities directed against the security of Russia (Article 280.4 of the Criminal Code), which became known in March.
The Sapa Yug publication wrote that the reason for initiating this case was a video in which Dovdanov called on the Ukrainian Armed Forces to destroy Russian equipment. The video was published in September 2023. The politician then told Kavkaz.Realii that he knew nothing about the case. In a conversation with the publication, he noted that he supports Ukraine in every possible way and strives to liberate his republic from the power of Moscow.
- The Congress of the Oirat-Kalmyk People is a body coordinating the people's congresses of national activists that have been held in Elista since 2015. At the beginning of March 2022, Congress demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine, supported the Ukrainian people, and also called on the citizens of Kalmykia not to go to war. The chairman of the organization, Arslang Sandzhiev, was twice found guilty under the article on discrediting the Russian army (Part 1 of Article 20.3.3 of the Administrative Code) and was fined 30 and 35 thousand rubles. He left Russia, fearing criminal prosecution.
- In July, the deputy chairmen of the Congress of the Oirat-Kalmyk people, Vladimir Dovdanov and Batyr Boromangnaev, were fined 70 thousand rubles under the article on calls for violating the territorial integrity of Russia (Part 2 of Article 20.3.2 of the Administrative Code). They now live abroad. Dovdanov was also added to the register of “foreign agents.”
- On August 23, 2023, the Supreme Court of Kalmykia recognized the Congress of the Oirat-Kalmyk People as an “extremist organization” at the request of the Ministry of Justice. The body said it would continue to operate despite the court's decision.