Time Zone : GMT+4



Location  : Russian Federation,


            Republic of the Western Lower Volga



Area      : 75,900 square KM



Population: 350,000



Capital   : Elista (pop. 100,000)






Principal Resources:


            Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Fisheries,


            Petroleum, CHESS

In the course of the 15th century they obtained hegemony over the whole of Mongolia. In the 17th and 18th centuries they were masters of a large part of Central Asia.

Around 1628 one of their tribes, the Torgouts, left the Dzoungarie to settle in the Lower Volga region of what is now the Russian Federation. The Kalmuck khanat remained there until 1771.

The Kalmucks from the Western Volga side were integrated into the Russian Empire where they became sedentary. In 1920 the Soviet authority created an autonomous area, which subsequently became a self-governing Republic in 1935.

Kirsan Iljumzhinov* was elected President of the Kalmyk Republic in April 1993. The political system of the Republic was reorganized. The highest legislative body, Narodny Choural (Parliament) was elected in 1994. On 5 April of that year the Stepnoye Ulozhenie (Basic Law) was passed. These measures created conditions for economic reforms. The first results have already been achieved.

The efforts of the Government and the peolpe of Kalmykia constitute a strong base for the country to enter the twenty first century.

* Note - Mr. Iljumzhinov was also elected President of FIDE in November 1995 at the landmark 66th FIDE Congress in Paris, France.