COSSACKS

Cossacks: translation

Social group. The first Cossack (Kazak) hosts, or paramilitary bands also known asvoisko, were formed in 14th-centuryUkraine. Over the next few centuries, other hosts formed in southern Russia, and ultimately allied themselves with theRomanovtsars, gaining special rights of autonomy for their service as the vanguard of colonial expansion, especially inSiberiawhere they established new hosts after subduing the local populations.

During the Russian Civil War, many Cossack hosts supported the anti-Bolshevik forces, and as a result, those who did not emigrate were subjected to intense repression for more than a decade, known as de-Cossackization (raskazachivaniie). The Don, Terek, and Kuban hosts were hit particularly hard.

Perestroikaallowed for the reformation of hosts and the creation of new ones. Since thedissolution of the Soviet Union, Cossack movements have flourished, particularly in southern Russia and theNorth Caucasus, as well as Siberia and northernKazakhstan. The Russian Federation has granted the Cossacks special rights within themilitaryand the ability to form police or paramilitary units in their traditional homelands, such asKrasnodar Krai(sometimes referred to as Kuban, a reflection of the importance of the Kuban Host in the region’s history).Known for their self-sufficiency, law-abiding ways, social conservatism, and religiosity, the Cossacks are often idealized as the paragon of the new patriotic ideal in 21stcentury Russia, though their vigilante activities, often against immigrants from theCaucasusandCentral Asia, are worrying to many who fear Russia may become a quasi-fascist state. Cossack regiments and volunteer units participated in a number of conflicts in thenear abroad, including inTransnistria,Abkhazia,South Ossetia, and theChechen Wars; they have also been enlisted in Russia’scounterterrorismefforts.

Until 2005, Moscow still refused to recognize the Cossacks as anethnicornational minorityand continues to categorize them asethnic Russiansin national censuses. The original Cossacks tended to beOrthodoxSlavs; however, generations of intermarriage with Russia’s various national minorities, including Greeks,Armenians, TurkicMuslims, and various Caucasian peoples, has created a unique—if predominantly Russophone—national identityamong many contemporary Cossacks. However, whenVladimir Putinintroduced successful legislation known as “On the State Service of the Russian Cossacks,” the Cossacks were for the first time recognized as a distinct ethnocultural entity indigenous to Russia.