Ataman of the Ussuri Cossacks who took Khabarovsk in 1918 and became notorious for shootings without trial and plunder
Born in the Grozny district of the Terek Region in 1890, he graduated from the military school in Tbilisi, transferred to the Ussuri Cossack Regiment in 1914 and won the Sword of St. George in the First World War. Elected ataman of the Ussuri Cossack Host in January 1918, he fought the Bolsheviks and on 5 September took Khabarovsk, becoming head of its garrison. Mass shootings without trial followed in Khabarovsk that year, and the robbery, murder and rape committed by his men outraged White leaders, Kolchak first among them. In February 1920 he secretly handed the gold of the Khabarovsk branch of the State Bank to the Japanese command and crossed into China, where the Chinese authorities arrested him; in early September he was shot while trying to escape.
Also known as: Ataman Kalmykov
Activities and affiliations
- 1918–1920 Military command · Russian White movement
- 1914–1917 Military command · Russian Empire
Career Timeline
- 1914Transferred to the Ussuri Cossack Regiment
- 1918Elected ataman of the Ussuri Cossack Host
- 1918Took Khabarovsk; head of the Khabarovsk garrison
- 1918Promoted major general; military ataman of the Ussuri Cossack Host
- 1920Commander of the Ussuri group of forces; retreated into China