The Kalmyks dream of 'the Volga Eurasian Union'

by Vladimir Rozanskij

Territorial tensions between the Russian Republic of Kalmykia and the Astrakhan region. More than 4 thousand square kilometres, mainly of steppe, are disputed. Putin's war adventures risk crumbling the Russian Federation: ethnic minorities mobilise.



Moscow (AsiaNews) - In the Russian region of Astrakhan on the Volga, two different separatist movements are clashing, that of the Kalmyks and that of the Nogai, the Caucasian Mongols.

The 'Declaration of Independence of Kalmykia' circulated at the end of October has triggered a wide-ranging debate between the various fringes of these two variants of Mongolian ethnic groups, with different traditions and antiquity, which the Russians have never managed to subdue completely.

The subject of the dispute is precisely the fate of the Volga delta territory of Astrakhan, where the great Russian river expands to generate the Caspian Sea, the most obvious border between Europe and Asia, which the Nogai claim as their original area.

All the southern regions crossed by the Volga have been disputing each other for centuries, and even in Soviet and later times there was no lack of legal disputes between Kalmykia and the Astrakhan region for the control of different areas.

In particular, three parts of the almost uninhabited steppe on the border between various regions, covering a total area of 4,000 square kilometres, are disputed, for which legal proceedings are still pending at the federal level.

The claims of the calmucchi separatists are even more extensive, covering almost the entire Astrakhan region, as many pointed out at the Oratory-Calmuco Congress in Elista in 2021.

Several speakers mentioned on that occasion the large areas of the Dolbansk and Privolshkoe valleys, taken from the calmucchi to facilitate Stalinist deportations, which are important accesses to drinking water for the entire region.

One of the most active members of the calmucchian separatists, Erentsen Doljaev, writes on his Telegram channel to justify the slogan 'The Astrakhan region is Kalmykia!' in every way.

Liberal politician Batyr Boromangaev explains that 'many historical, cultural and even linguistic arguments are needed to understand this claim', referring to the different definitions and interpretations between Russians and local ethnic groups, including the Volga Germans who settled in these areas at various times.

Various territories have been 'lost' or 'taken away', depending on shades of meaning, in times past, distant and recent. The Soviets rearranged these areas often without taking into account the recognitions or distinctions of the tsarist period, to the point of establishing in 1958, after Stalin, the autonomous republic of Kalmykia, deprived of many areas allocated to Astrakhan, Volgograd and other neighbouring regions.

According to Boromangaev, 'it is the federal authorities who must decide on the return of these lands, where our ancestors lived'.

Activists on both sides point out that the Russian Federation is the heir to the Soviet Union, and in fact seems to want to perpetuate its injustices and ethnic repression, a factor that becomes more evident in the face of the war in Ukraine.

The Chaldean politician also points out that the Caspian Consortium's oil pipeline passes through the stolen territories, the proceeds of which all end up in Astrakhan.

Boromangaev states that 'it is now clear that Russia is collapsing, because of Putin and his band of adventurers, and under these conditions the creation of new independent states, rooted in history and with solid economic foundations, is urgent'.

The activists insist on openness to international relations and law, starting with the closest nations and institutions such as Kazakhstan, Ukraine itself and the whole of Europe.

Some hope that this process, by putting their respective zones of competence in order, may even foster a future 'unified nation' of Kalmykia and Astrakhan, perhaps opening up to Tatars, Bashkhiri, Dagestani or others in a new 'Volga Eurasian Union', as some have proposed calling it.