The number of registered “Cossacks” involved in the “Special Military Operation” (SVO) in Eastern Ukraine has risen to 25,000, taking into account rotations and leaves. This number was mentioned in announcements at the All-Russian Forum “Cossacks in the North Caucasus: Current Stage and Image of the Future” at Pyatigorsk State University in Stavropol. On behalf of the Ataman (head) of the “All-Russian Cossack Society,” Nikolai Doluda, First Deputy Konstantin Perenizhko led a roundtable on the role of the “Cossacks” in the SVO. He noted, “more than 25 thousand ‘Cossacks’ of Kuban, Don, Terek, Crimea, the Volga region, Transbaikalia, Siberia, and the Far East—as part of 18 ‘Cossack’ BARS (Combat Reserve Forces) battalions, who took and are taking part in the special operation—voluntarily and without summonses gathered ‘for the ribbon’ [referring to the Ribbon of Saint George, a prominent military symbol heavily associated with the war effort at present]” (Vsko.ru, October 3).
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