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The data set contains posts from social media networks popular among Russian-speaking communities. Information was searched based on pre-defined keywords ("war", "special military operation", etc.) and is mainly related to the ongoing war in Ukraine with Russia. After a thorough review and analysis of the data, both propaganda and fake news were identified. The collected data is anonymized. Feature engineering and text preprocessing can be applied to obtain new insights and knowledge from this data set. The data set is useful for the study of information wars and propaganda identification. The data has been collected for the period from 01.02.2022 until 26.04.2022.

Sponsored by Arcadia Fund, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin

Sponsored by Arcadia Fund, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin

Sponsored by Arcadia Fund, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin

Mergen says that of all schools of Buddhism, Gelug was the most open to the masses. Whilst other schools, which were more closed, did not send out missionaries, Gelug pursued this line of activity. Despite being like this, Gelug also comprises of esotericism and secret tantric practices. The Oirats played an important role in the establishment of the Gelug tradition. Gushi Khan’s campaign, the creation of the Kokonor Khanate and the creation of a theocratic state in Tibet itself – these are all the contribution of the Oirats. The Oirats were also first among the Mongolian peoples to adopt Buddhism. In addition, the Kalmyks were instrumental in spreading Buddhism in modern Europe and the United States. There are many hypotheses about when Buddhism spread among the Oirats. Some scholars say that it was during Chingis Khan, others take it further back to the pre-Chingis period, and yet there are scholars who contend that Buddhism began to spread in the 17th century. At present, there are no historical sources to verify any of these theories. Before adopting Gelug, various Mongolian tribes practiced other Buddhist traditions. The question of why Mongolian tribes chose Gelug can be explained partly by the fact that Altan Khan of Mongolia had personal contact with the Dalai Lama III, head of the Gelug school. Born in the 15th century, Gelug spread among the Mongols in the 16th century. Why was Gelug so popular among the Oirats? In Mergen’s view, this school’s lavish ceremonies involving large numbers of monks might have attracted the Oirats. To this should be added Buddha’s prediction that his religion would spread to the north. There could be geographical factors as well added to this explanation. Sponsored by Arcadia Fund, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin

In this interview Ulyumdzhi talks about the Chonos clan, including its history, composition, and a legend about its origin.Ulyumdzhi: I will talk briefly about the Chonos. The Chonos came from north-western Mongolia a long time ago. Our ancestors still live there. We have a relationship between Kalmykia and Mongolia. A couple of years ago about ten Mongolian students came to study in Kalmykia. When our ancestors left Dzungaria (for what is today Kalmykia) there were 30,000 warriors among them, and each warrior had five family members on average. Having lived here in the Volga region, some of them later returned to Dzungaria. When I was in Xinjiang, China, people addressed me as ‘older brother’ (akh). in Xinjiang people speak Kalmyk well. One day after when we had vodka together, they started to tease me by asking: ‘Why did you come here? Is it because the Volga is already small for you?’ I was in Mongolia last year. I travelled with a Mongolian guy whose father was a member of the Central Committee of Mongolia. His father celebrated his 75th birthday last year. That Mongolian guy was a smart one, and we talked with each other all the way to Mongolia. He told me that the number of Derbets is small in Xinjiang, which I know from my trip there. In the early spring of 1771 the Kalmyk Ubashi Khan moved to the left bank of the Volga (to flee to Dzungaria), but our ancestors remained trapped on the right bank, because the ice was melting in the river. On his way to Dzungaria, Ubashi Khan had to fight the Kazakhs, to bribe them. The Kazakhs also poisoned the water along his route. In Kazakhstan there are Kalmyk diasporas that descended from the Kalmyks who stayed among the Kazakhs back then. When the Kalmyks were moving back to their historical motherland, their flanks were defended by Derbets who died in large numbers because of hostile raids. With regard to the Iki Chonos and Bag Chonos clans. These two clans descended from two brothers. Historically, the former comprised 4,500 families, whereas the latter had 800 families. Today the number of Bag Chonos population is bigger than that of Iki Chonos. Question: How many arvns are there in the Iki Chonos clan? Ulyumdzhi: Seven, including the Khasgud, Boodshnr, Syan Avgnr, Mu Avgnr, Yandyg Arvan, Orud Arvan, and others. The Baga Chonos has 11 arvns, including a Russian one called Molokanovy, if I am not mistaken. There is one story about the origin of the two clans. A long time ago a Kalmyk settlement was raided by enemies, and all the people were killed, except for two brothers. A female wolf found these brothers and brought them up. The descendants of these two brothers came to be known as Iki Chonos (Big Wolves) and Bag Chonos (Small Wolves). These are ancient clans known to have existed in the times of Chingis Khan. Sponsored by Arcadia Fund, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin

Bembya says that some temples in Kalmykia had Tibetan architectural influence. In Kalmykia, in one of the villages there stood a temple that resembled the mandala of Vajrabhairava. Many Kalmyk temples had symmetrical walls which is also known among other Mongolian groups. Kalmyks also had temples that had Russian influence. An example is the Khosheutovsky Temple, built in the likeness of the Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg. There were also temples that had mixed architecture, i.e. Tibetan-Mongolian or Tibetan-Oirat, although Kalmyks did not have temples with Chinese architectural influence. Sponsored by Arcadia Fund, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin

This video features an art exhibition held in Elista in May 2018. Artists who are interviewed include Alexandr Povaev, Mergen Moshuldaev, Syugir Buluktaev, and Tsebek Aduchiev whose works are displayed in the hall. Sponsored by Arcadia Fund, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin

Mergen says that the state today does not support artists in Kalmykia. Modern Kalmyk art is in a difficult situation. Since leadership does not support art, artists leave Kalmykia where it is very difficult to make a career. Mergen says that all Kalmyks should clear their heads and improve the local economy. Without state support, artists will not be able to exist and art will perish. Sponsored by Arcadia Fund, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin

Sanj talks about the history of the Torghuts in Kalmykia. According to him, there are several versions of the etymology of the ethnonym Torghut. In the view of the French scholar Paul Pelliot, it derives from the Turkic verb ‘tur’ (to stand) + the plural suffix. The Secret History of Mongols writes that in the beginning turgak kishg, who were Chingis Khan’s bodyguards during the day, consisted of 80 men. After 1206, their number grew to ten thousand. The bodyguards were divided into three groups, including turgak (day guards), keptyul (night guards) and khorchin (bowmen). Apart from providing personal security to the Khan, these guards also served as policemen. In other words, the ethnonym Torghut derives from the word turgak. The contemporary Torghut, however, are not the same as the historical Torghuts. The Torghuts joined the Oirats, which was a feeble union of tribes, in the 14-15th centuries. When the Mongol Empire was split into five khanates, the Oirats were part of a force that opposed Kublai Khan. Following the collapse of the Yuan Dynasty (founded by Kublai), a civil war broke out among the Mongols. Although, according to the established convention it was only the direct descendants of Chingis Khan who had the right to the throne, the Oirat lords started to challenge the status quo. In the 15-16th centuries in their struggle with the Eastern Mongols, the Oirat union suffered defeat after defeat, which prompted their leaders to call a meeting (chulgan) in order to strengthen the union. Despite internal struggles, the union had a centripetal tendency under the leadership of the lords from the Tsoros clan. Nevertheless, several tribes, or clans, left the union and moved westwards. According to Soviet sources, the first among the Oirats to arrive in the Volga region was the Torghut lord Kho-Urlyuk of the Keryad clan. Recent studies, however, dispute this view and show instead that it was the Khoshud lords who first came to this region. The Derbet lord Dalai Taishi was the next to arrive in the Volga. Various Oirat groups thus settled in the territory of today’s Astrakhan, near the Volga, displacing the indigenous Nogais whom the Russians used as a buffer force against foreign tribes. So, when the Derbets drew the Nogais out of their land, the Russians were not in a position to defend their vassals. The third wave of Oirat arrival took place when the Torghuts headed by Kho-Urlyuk’s older son, Luuzang, came to the Volga. Once settled, Luuzang carried out a policy to attract into his dominion various Turkic tribes, including the Tatars, Nogais and Tomuts. According to Nikita Bichurin, the Tomuts were a mix of Tatars and Bashkirs who had a religion that was also a mix of various religions, including shamanism, Buddhism and Islam. During the Oirat/Kalmyk settlement, half of the Tomuts dissolved among the Oirats, while the other half left for Crimea, becoming the Crimean Tatars. Sanj Khoyt says he wrote an article about hybridization, or ethnic mixing in Kalmykia. According to his research, the Kalmyks mixed with many ethnic groups, including Russians, Kazakhs, and peoples from the Caucasus. Hybridization took place among all social strata, including the aristocracy and ordinary people alike. Ordos (China) is the motherland of the Torghuts. According to available genetic and ethnographic data, they were most likely Eastern Mongols. After joining the Oirat union, the Torghuts, who consisted of Mongol and Turkic tribes, were headed by the Keryad clan. The Torghuts reached the Volga region through Central Asia while incorporating on their way various clans and tribes. Hence their colorful composition. The Torghuts differ from the Derbets both in terms of their dialect and customs. In the Volga region all these groups – the Torghuts, Khoshuds, Zyungar, Khoit, etc. – came to be known under the umbrella term of Kalmyk. Owing to widespread Russification, today the difference among various Kalmyk groups is negligible. With the passage of time, some Kalmyks, especially impoverished individuals, engaged in fishing. Those Kalmyks who lived close to the Volga and the Caspian Sea became good fishermen. Historically, the majority of Kalmyks were Torghuts, which means that the Kalmyk Khanate was in fact a Torghut Khanate. Hence, the Kalmyk Khan Ayuka described himself in his letters as a Torghut Khan. When in 1771 the majority of the Kalmyks, or Torghuts, set out on a return journey to Dzungaria, the number of the Torghuts that remained in Kalmykia diminished accordingly. When the Khanate was abolished by the Russian government as a consequence of this exodus, the Tundutov family of the Choros clan of the Derbet were appointed as representatives of the Russian administration among the Kalmyks. Historically, the Torghuts participated in religious wars. When Kagyu and Gelug schools of Buddhism fought with each other in Tibet, the Oirats supported Gelug, while the Khalkhas, or Mongols, supported Kagyu. It is known that a contingent of Torghut soldiers from the Volga reached Zungaria and Tibet. After their military campaign, they returned home. Sponsored by Arcadia Fund, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin.