Kardashof, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing slightly right, between 1880 and 1886. Kardashof was one of three political exiles living in the Buriat village of Selenginsk whom Kennan visited in October, 1885. Kardashof had served his penal term at the Kara gold mines and Kennan hoped Kardashof and his fellow exiles could provide him with information about the Kara mines.