Kalmyk activist Dovdanov* fined for violating foreign agents law

A court in Elista has sentenced activist Vladimir Dovdanov*, who fled Russia, to a fine of 30,000 roubles for his failure to provide a report on the activities of a foreign agent, the human rights project "OVD-Info"* has informed.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on August 16, 2023, Vladimir Dovdanov, a deputy chairman of the public association "Congress of the Oirat-Kalmyk People"**, was fined on charges of calling for violation of the territorial integrity of Russia. Two days later, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) added Dovdanov* to the register of foreign agents.

Let us recall that in 2022, Dovdanov reported that he had to leave Kalmykia for Lithuania. “I didn’t think that in my old age I would run away from Russia. I am a pensioner, an honoured person, but, on the other hand, this injustice that Russia is committing […] - it's impossible to turn a blind eye to it,” the "Mediazona"*** has quoted him as saying.

According to investigators, in September 2023, a video was posted on the YouTube in which Dovdanov, addressing the Ukrainian Army, called for the destruction of Russian military equipment.

*Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.

**In September 2023, it became known about the decision of the Supreme Court of Kalmykia to recognize the Congress of the Oirat-Kalmyk People as an extremist organization and to ban its activities in Russia.

***On September 29, 2021, the Ministry of Justice of Russia included the LLC "ZP" (the legal entity that had established the "Mediazona") into the list of media outlets-foreign agents.