10/03/2026

Join our conversation with Dr. Maria Ochir, an Oirat-Kalmyk historian, archaeologist, and human rights advocate, about Kalmyk identity, Russian colonialism, and what a post-Russia future could look like.

• 00:00 – Who are the Kalmyk people, and what has Russian rule done to their identity?
• 07:00 – How did Russian and Soviet policies traumatize Kalmykia?
• 12:00 – Why was the chance for real sovereignty after the USSR collapsed in the 1990s lost?
• 22:00 – Why is cultural decolonization accepted more easily than political independence from Moscow?
• 31:00 – Which national movements could shape a post-Russia future?

https://www.youtube.com/@AnnafromUkraine