Residents of Kalmykia pay tribute to memory of victims of deportation

Prayer services in memory of victims of the deportation were held throughout Kalmykia. In Elista, residents of the republic, among whom were survivors of the deportation, gathered for a rally.

The “Caucasian Knot” has also reported that since 2004, Kalmykia marks December 28 as the Remembrance Day of the Victims of the Deportation of the Kalmyk People.

A prayer service was held in the Central Khurul of Kalmykia “Golden Abode of Buddha Shakyamuni” in memory of the victims of the deportation. Memorial prayer services were held throughout the republic, the “RIA Kalmykia” news agency reported.

“Today, there are fewer and fewer witnesses to the tragedy. The number of those born before December 28, 1943 is just over two thousand people. Our task now is to surround them with attention and care, preserve historical memory, peace and harmony in society, and pass on from generation to generation the truth about the past and that there is no justification for repression,” stated Batu Khasikov, the leader of Kalmykia, at a rally at the “Exodus and Return” memorial complex.

An evening in memory of the victims of the deportation of the Kalmyk people was held at the Gulag History Museum in Moscow.

The “Caucasian Knot” has also reported that on December 27, a memorial plaque dedicated to the deportation of the Kalmyk people was broken in the Volgograd Region. Its destruction deeply offended residents of Kalmykia, and they connected the incident with the atmosphere of hatred in society and the political course towards the rehabilitation of Stalinism.

A resident of the Volgograd Region, who, according to the investigators’ version, broke the memorial plaque, has been under the supervision of a psychiatrist for more than 10 years and after the incident was placed to a special medical institution.