Whips of the tsar
Cossacks, Crimea and governmental bids
“My friend and I were on Pushkinskaya [square], we had drawn a banner. Navalny came some time later, a huge crowd gathered around him and we already couldn’t move back. At that moment Cossacks grappled and started to push people from the square, towards the OMON [The Khams Times: the Russian “Black Berets,” special police units]. That lasted some time, after that they started to hit everybody around them. They tried to punch me in the face, grabbed my hands, kicked me below the knee. They dragged my friend into the circle, but by chance didn’t beat him,” said 17 year-old Darya, who took part in the protest.
On May 5, 2018, mass protests, titled “He’s Not a Tsar To Us,” took place all around Russia against Putin’s 4th term. In all, more than 1,600 people were detained. The biggest instances happened in Moscow, where so-called “Cossacks” helped the police with arrests and fought against protesters using whips. Some of them had served in Donbass for pro-Russian separatists and took part in the annexation of Crimea. They attacked Alexey Navalny’s election campaign offices, hit his activists, Pussy Riot members, destroyed different exhibitions and human rights organisations’ offices and were not held responsible. (With the exception of those Cossacks reportedly whipped by their own on May 5). In recent years, Cossacks became a pro-authorities force used as local police.
Historically, the Cossacks were group of predominantly Eastern Slavic-speaking people who became known as members of democratic, self-governing, semi-militaristic communities, mainly located in southern Russia and in south-eastern Ukraine, and others in Siberia and the Southern Ural region. Even as peasants in Russia were in servitude, the Cossacks were free. They paid for their freedom by serving Russian tsars and emperors as a robust military force.
Conservative and faithful supporters of monarchy, they served not only as soldiers, but also as a sort of police watching over public security, breaking up demonstrations and rallies. At the time of first Russian Revolution of 1905, the authorities employed Cossacks frequently. More than 110 thousand soldiers (17% of all male Cossack adults) were sent to “maintain order” in the country. Cossacks as cavalrymen were very effective against protesters: most ran away when they saw riders rushing towards them. Some historians believe there was another rationale for using horsemen: using infantry to break up demonstrations always caused mass casualties, since they were armed with rifles, while Cossacks had only sabres and whips.
During the Russian Civil War (1917–1922), Cossacks fought for both Whites and Reds. All “armies” regardless of affiliation, were repressed. (Cossack communities are named “armies” after their geographical locations, e.g. Orenburg Cossack Army). Some researchers conclude that the Cossack social class was destroyed during this time. People calling themselves “Cossacks,” however, remained.
In the late 1980s, the rehabilitation of repressed Cossacks began. The Communist Party wanted them to be a conservative force that could help save the collapsing country. There appeared two Cossacks groups: “Red” and “White”. First got that name because in creating of the first group took part Communist Party.
Whites for their part considered themselves as ancestors of those Whites who fought against Bolsheviks in Civil War. In fact they were lower rank police and army officers who didn’t fit the official Red structures. Both being conservative supporters of the idea of “Imperial Russia” fought in Transnistria in 1992 since the collapse of Soviet Union.
Authorities tried to divide Cossacks into the recognised and unrecognised. The “recognised” comprised mainly Reds included in 1995 in the Official Roster of Cossack Communities. The official status of Cossacks was settled in 2005 by federal law. According to it, “Russian Cossacks are citizens of the Russian Federation who belong to the Cossack community. The Cossack community is a form of self-organisation of Russian Federation citizens, united on the basis of mutual interest to revive the Russian Cossack community, protect its rights, preserve the traditional lifestyle, management and culture of Russian Cossacks under federal law.”
The two groups of Cossacks, roster and non-roster, still coexist. 11 roster Cossack armies and 2701 municipal non-profit organisations are included in the roster. Simultaneously, more than 600 non-roster armies exist.
Some experts approximate that there are more than 7 million people who consider themselves Cossacks. The overall number of Cossacks armies is about 800 thousand men. During the latest census in 2010, 67 thousand people declared themselves Cossacks.
Such wildly different numbers are a result of some Cossacks identifying as a separate ethnic group. Those ancestral Cossacks do not consider themselves Russians and, according to the glossary of the Cossack data-processing Center, an ancestral (natural) Cossack is one “having (knowing) no less than three generations of patrilineal ancestors (father, grandfather and grand-grand father).”
State interest toward Cossacks grew in 2014. First, Reds were sent to Sochi to watching over public safety at the Winter Olympic Games. Later, they took part in Crimea’s annexation. Whites, on the other hand (without official government sanction) moved into Donbass to support separatist militias.
Among them were those who whipped Moscow protesters on May 5 (members of non-roster “Crimean regiment.”) They served first in Crimea making roadblocks and raids into Crimean Tatars’ houses together with FSB officers. Later in 2014 the regiment fought in Donbass in Snezhny and Saur-Mogil areas and reportedly Ukrainian army lost close to 1,000 men there.
Later the “Crimean regiment” moved to Moscow — being an openly-Christian group, it couldn’t easily be located to Syria to openly fight in a predominantly-Muslim conflict. As such, the authorities redirected them to fight the opposition.
Whips From the Moscow Government
After the reform of Ministry of Internal Affairs in 2009 — which allowed certain types of organisations, including communities, to carry out specific activities with a license — Cossacks founded security businesses en masse. Republic reported that there are 1,280 Cossack-owned companies licensed to provide security services. On average, every tenth Cossack community participated in state bids for security services
In fact, Cossacks assist the police. They patrol cities and factories, watching over public security. In south-central Russia (for example, in the Saratov region), activists reported daily Cossack patrols in 15 towns.
In Stavropol (southern Russia), Cossacks are engaged in the “prevention of offence, terrorism and extremism, and minimisation of the consequences of terrorism and extremism”. During holidays, dozens of Cossack men are on duty. In Northern Ossetia, Cossacks take part in counter-terrorist and search operations held by FSB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
These instances partly explain why Cossacks appear at rallies, provoke and fight protesters.
The Telegram channel “Chudesa OSINT” found out that the Central Cossack Army, whose members whipped protesters on May 5, received three contracts from the Department of National Policy and Interregional Connections of the Moscow government totaling about $254,000 (15.9 million rubles). The leaked contracts outlined “training and carrying out required knowledge and skills in the implementation of activities of watching over public security during public and mass events in Moscow.”
During these training sessions, Cossacks practiced detaining and shooting people. ”Despite the frost and the record snowfall, the training program was completed. Cossacks trained with pleasure and effort,” reads a press release on the Moscow government site. The 30 best course participants were awarded 80 cm whips. Protesters at the May 5 rally were likely flogged with whips bought to Cossacks by the Moscow administration.
On May 14, the Moscow Ministry of Culture signed a contract with the Central Cossack Army (CCA), agreeing to subsidise about $43.2 thousand (2.7 million rubles) for projects promoting “Cossack culture,” including concerts, choreography, and “male military culture” master classes.From the side of the Cossacks, the agreement was signed by FSB’s general-lieutenant Ivan Mironov (now the leader of CCA).
“We don’t whip others…”
There are two main Cossack organisations in Central Russia: the roster Army called “Central Cossack Army (CCA)” and the interregional public organisation called “Central Cossack Community (CCC)”. Members of the latter called whipping incidents on May 5 a “huge disaster.” Their leader Valery Nalimov, in an interview to Lenta.ru, said this was a setup and that “there were some Cossacks of CCA.
- The demonstration was peaceful. It’s not possible that our Cossack brother came to dispersing people, including children, with a whip.
- Are, really, all the Cossacks that peaceful?
- We don’t have that in our blood. An ancestral Cossack won’t go whipping people. That’s not in our traditional behaviour. We can punish our Cossack and whip him for commiting a sin or mistake. But we don’t whip others. We can fight as Russian citizens but whipping is not right. I’m sure that there were no Cossacks, or few of them.
- But what about other scandals with Cossacks? For example, regarding Pussy Riot [you can read more about Pussy Riot here]. Did Cossacks beat them or not?
- Those were Cossacks. I understand, the question is complicated, rude, but fair. How could they come into the Cathedral of the Christ the Saviour and dance? That’s absence of the culture, morality. Where a their father and mother, where are the grandfathers who raised those girls? Cossacks are not simple nation — they treat those who disrupt the order strictly. But I tell you as a man — I don’t like to whip women on legs and thighs. That’s wrong. That Cossack also has absence of the culture, or maybe someone instructed him [to do so]. Guys in the heat of the moment made this mistake. As chieftain and Cossack I must support them but as real adviser of the civil service of the first class I have no right to support them in this situation.
- So who told them to whip people on Pushkinskaya [square]? Who “supported” them?
- Nobody could make an order to Cossacks — neither police, nor RosGuard, nor the FSB, nor the Moscow Government. Of course, Cossacks take orders only from their chieftain and only he could make that order, if those were really our Cossacks.
…
- … I’m not sure, I’ve not seen guys I know in that line.
- If those were unknown guys, who was there? People in costume?
- I don’t exclude the possibility of costumed people. After what I saw — that cossacks’ hat … God … a dinky coat … For what did he come to our motherland’s capital, where did he appear from?
…
- We thought we would earn money, would get land, that honourable Cossacks carefully would eventually gain power, those who had the right education and knew how to work with people. That didn’t happen anywhere during past five years. Almost no Cossack army got no financing — excluding ones on Don, Kuban’ and Terek.
- Why?
- Now there’s an order from the top not to pay attention to Cossack public organisations and to work with roster only…
Following the protests, Roster Cossacks from the CCA published this announcement on their site: “There was an unauthorised demonstration nearby, where Cossacks defended their civil position, [which is] built on preventing seizure of power, calls for extremist activity and initiation of hatred and hostility. Cossacks are traditionally the defenders of the fatherland. The Cossacks didn’t take part in any illegal acts.”
The experience of the allies
Paramilitares are armed pro-governmental formations used by authorities for oppressing separatist (terrorist) or opposition movements. Latin American governments in particular are notorious for making use of paramilitaries, although this tactic hardly brings politicians any good in the long run.
The cooperation between authorities and militants is possible only until first satisfy the expectations of the paramilitary movement and finance it. This happened in Colombia, Argentina, Nicaragua, Venezuela and other nations. Troops facing any resistance on their interests declared governments enemies and began to fight against them or search for new powers to finance themselves.
For example, in Venezuela, the centralised organisation “The Youth of United Socialist Party of Venezuela” come to opposition demonstrations, fight and kill participants, support and propagate the official discourse of the government. They supposedly seek to “study Chavism, promote the ideas of the Bolivarian revolution, watch over public security, be the forefront of the party”.
Kitty Sandres, a political analyst and expert on Latin America, wrote: “No one can ever defeat such systematic problems of the state, as terrorism, with the help of a paramilitary…Politically, the problem of a paramilitary is that “there’s no place for them.” Barely no one succeed in completing the integration of militants into society.”
The Russian government found Cossacks useful in carrying out the annexation of Crimea and the Ukrainian civil war. In 2018, the group is at the forefront of the regime’s battle against the opposition, even as in 2016, Cossack general Pavel Artamonov said: “Today the state still does not understand what tasks Cossack can carry out.”
