The Kalmyks are a people who immigrated to the Caspian Sea from the steppes of Mongolia many centuries ago. They inhabited the region currently known as Kalmykia (formerly the Kalmyk SSR). During the transition from authoritarian communism to a much more less restrictive government, many Kalmyks organized their own independence movement in an attempt to create their own independent state. After petitions to the Kremlin for independence were rejected, the international community stepped in, and ordered Kalmykia secede from the Soviet Union. Secession was successful, and a new consitution was drafted.