Short answers, pulled from the story.
Kalmykia lies in the Caspian Depression within Southern Russia, covering approximately 76,100 square kilometers. It borders Dagestan to the south, Stavropol Krai to the southwest, Volgograd Oblast to the northwest and north, Astrakhan Oblast to the northeast, and Rostov Oblast to the west while the Caspian Sea stretches along the eastern edge.
The ancestors of the Kalmyks were Oirat Mongols who migrated from southern Siberia and reached the Lower Volga region by the early 17th century around 1630. They arrived on the banks of the Irtysh River before settling territories that stretched from Saratov in the north to the Volga delta in the south.
On the 27th of December 1943 Soviet authorities declared many Kalmyks guilty of cooperation with the German Army and ordered the deportation of the entire Kalmyk population including those who had served with the Soviet Army. In conjunction with this deportation the Kalmyk Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was abolished and its territory split between adjacent regions.
Kirsan Nikolayevich Ilyumzhinov served as Head of Republic from 1993 until 2010 and also held presidency of world chess organization FIDE until 2018. Elista hosted many international tournaments including the 2006 World Chess Championship between Veselin Topalov and Vladimir Kramnik.
According to 2021 Census Kalmyks make up 62.5 percent of republic population while Russians account for 25.7 percent and other groups include Dargins at 2.8 percent Kazakhs at 1.7 percent Turks at 1.6 percent Chechens at 1.1 percent Avars at 1.0 percent and Koreans at 0.4 percent.