Donduk Kuular

Who was Donduk Kuular?

Donduk Kuular was a Tuvan monk, politician, and first prime minister of the Tuvan People's Republic.

Donduk was originally a Lamaist monk. As leader of a group of Russian-supported Bolsheviks, he proclaimed the independence of the People's Republic of Tannu Tuva, in 1921. He subsequently switched his affiliation to the Tuvan People's Revolutionary Party. In 1924 Donduk was made head of state.

Aware of his young nation's vulnerability, Donduk sought to establish ties with the Mongolian People's Republic. His monastic background and theocratic inclinations gave him a close relationship with the country's lamas, whose interests he sought to advance in spite of Joseph Stalin's growing irritation. In 1926 he established Buddhism as the state religion of Tannu Tuva, which in November was renamed the Tuvinian People's Republic.

Stalin found Donduk's separatist and theocratic tendencies obnoxious, and counter to communist principles of atheism and internationalism. In 1929 he was removed from power and arrested. Meanwhile, five Tuvan graduates of the Communist University of the Toilers of the East were appointed commissars extraordinary to Tuva.