Cossacks

Beyond Wagner: The Russian Cossack Forces in Ukraine

Readers of the Western press might think that the only paramilitary or mercenary forces participating in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner group and Ramzan Kadyrov’s Kadyrovtsy. Yet…

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The Expanding Russian Cossack Movement: A Social Base for Putinism

On November 27, 2018, the leaders of the 11 Cossack hosts convened in a hall in Moscow and agreed to establish an “All-Russian Cossack Organization” into which they would be…

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The Role of Cossacks in Russia’s Soft Power Toolkit

(PONARS Eurasia Policy Memo) Cossacks have become a highly recognizable feature of modern Russia, playing a central role in the annexation of Crimea and promotion of secessionism in Donbas. Beyond…

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Belarusian Cossacks—An Option for Putin?

(Eurasia Daily Monitor) Due to certain superficial similarities between the ongoing post-election demonstrations in Belarus and the EuroMaidan protests in Kyiv in 2013–2014, some commentators have speculated about the possibility of…

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Russia’s Cossacks Battle Coronavirus and Promote Kremlin’s Foreign Policy

(EDM) As fears of the COVID-19 pandemic grip much of Russia, the country’s Cossacks have been enlisted to help contain the deadly virus. In the city of Ekaterinburg, Ataman Gennady Kovalev…

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Russian-Backed Luhansk Authorities Enlist Help of Local Cossacks

(EDM) The authorities of the self-declared Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) are apparently seeking to extend their control over society in this Russian-occupied and Moscow-backed eastern Ukrainian region. As one notable sign…

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Ukrainian Security Services Arrest Pro-Russia Cossack Cell in Odesa

(EDM) On May 28, the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) arrested three Ukrainian citizens who staged an explosion in the lobby of a resort hotel in the major Black Sea port…

Whose Cossacks Are They Anyway? A Movement Torn by the Ukraine-Russia Divide

(PONARS Policy Memo) Most headlines about the conflict in Eastern Ukraine do not normally mention either the role of the Cossacks or the use of the Cossack image, but both are,…

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Beyond Wagner: The Russian Cossack Forces in Ukraine

The Expanding Russian Cossack Movement: A Social Base for Putinism

The Role of Cossacks in Russia’s Soft Power Toolkit

Belarusian Cossacks—An Option for Putin?

Russia’s Cossacks Battle Coronavirus and Promote Kremlin’s Foreign Policy

Russian-Backed Luhansk Authorities Enlist Help of Local Cossacks

Ukrainian Security Services Arrest Pro-Russia Cossack Cell in Odesa

Whose Cossacks Are They Anyway? A Movement Torn by the Ukraine-Russia Divide