A Kalmyk man has just earned the Order of Courage fighting in the Special Military Operation, but the question is, who are the Kalmyks?
Starting with the story of the man himself, Badma Dordzhiev became famous recently, together with his squad of seven fighters, who defended and held a key stronghold near the village of Ternov for 10 days without receiving reinforcements. Under constant attack and with supplies limited they somehow held out against all odds repelling attacks by dozens of militants of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Images above: Mr. Dordzhiev and information about his achievements.
Mr. Dordzhiev volunteered for the SMO and he has been serving for two years already.
Now Badma, who is at present a company commander, is recovering from the wounds received over that 10 day onslaught and and is awaiting reinforcements in the rear. For his heroism and courage, the command presented Sergeant Major Badma Dordzhiev with a high state award, the Order of Courage.
Mr. Dordzhiev belongs to the Kalmyk people, of which there are only about 170,000 in Russia. The global population of Kalmyks is less than 200,000 (there are 4000 in Ukraine by the way).
At one time, the Kalmyks were called Oirats and they were considered courageous, brave warriors. Interestingly, they were a rare steppe nomadic people who almost never fought against the Russians, but instead nearly immediately formed an alliance with Russia.
However, one of the Oirat hordes migrated to the East, where it practically disappeared due to constant wars with other nomadic Mongolian and Turkic peoples.
The same Oirats who swore allegiance to Russia never regretted it. It was a great mutually beneficial deal, Russia got excellent cavalry on its southern borders, the Oirats sharply improved their standard of living within the Russian Empire, and their elite and best warriors received imperial social lifts, becoming officers in the Imperial Army.
It is important to note that the leadership of the Oirats/Kalmyks was treated with equal status and respect to their Russian counterparts in all regards. The Russians were not colonizers like the Europeans but assimilators who brought many ethnicities into the fold.
Today, the descendants of those Oirats live on the territory of Kalmykia. The majority of the ethnic group is of the Buddhist religion, and, like their ancestors, they fight shoulder to shoulder with the Russians, bringing peace through strength to the great Eurasian land mass.