Opposition in Kalmykia arranges march to Moscow

The Executive Committee of the Extraordinary Congress of the People of Kalmykia, founded in January 2003 to remove Kirsan Ilyumzhinov from the Kalmyk presidency, intends to arrange a march to Moscow at the end of February. The number of participants in the march will be about 100 people, reads a statement by the Kalmyk Human Rights Center. In December 2003, several thousands of people who thought gross violations had taken place during the elections for the State Duma and local parliament held a meeting on the central square of Elista [the capital of Kalmykia] for three days demanding that the President of Kalmykia resign. 2,500-strong forces were transferred to Kalmykia from other regions to suppress the meeting at Ilyumzhinov's instance. Then Russian President's Plenipotentiary in the South Federal District Viktor Kazantsev, who arrived in Kalmykia with expedition, managed to relieve the stress. "However Kazantsev has not fulfilled obligations he undertook and, moreover, issued irresponsible statements concerning leaders of the opposition, which in fact has caused an original reaction of protest in the form of the march to Moscow being under preparation," reads the statement. "Upon our arrival in Moscow at the beginning of March, we are going to demand that President Putin draw his attention to the situation in Kalmykia. In such a way we will attract attention of the Russian and international public, as well as of the mass media to our action, and consequently to the critical social, political and economic situation in Kalmykia, which has arisen as a result of Kirsan Ilyumzhinov's 11-year government."