Free Republic

But as Kyiv has moved to surround the last bastions of rebel control, Igor Girkin, known by his nom-de-guerre, Strelkov, or "Shooter," seems to have soured. [....] The self-proclaimed separatist republic of Donetsk is "fully surrounded," Girkin says before tearing into a brigade of pro-Russian Cossacks. "The Cossacks, keeping with tradition, ran," he says while facetiously congratulating them for recent defeats. "They are awaiting new great achievements. The brilliant Donetsk Cossack battle path has been marked by landmark achievements like [their] surrender of Krasnyy Lyman in one day, the surrender without a fight of Poposna, the surrender of Debaltseve, and...

Fox News reported yesterday that Kiev is sending an "elite National Guard" to Odessa, and today the International Business Times reported that Kiev is sending an "elite National Guard" to Slavyansk. Who makes up the ranks of this elite National Guard when Vice News reported on March 19, 2014 - in their article "A look Inside Ukraine's Volunteer National Guard" - and in it said then that Ukraine had - by its own admission - only 6,000 combat-ready troops? Looks like Kiev didn't/doesn't have a pot to even... much less an "elite National Guard." BTW, Vice News was the news...

Today marks the bicentennial of the culminating catastrophe that befell the Grande Armée as it retreated from Russia. This past weekend one of the French Emperor's descendants, Charles Napoleon, traveled to Minsk in Belarus to attend ceremonies commemorating the disaster at the nearby Beresina River crossing, where thousands died -- many by drowning -- in a final, panicked rout in freezing weather. Bonaparte had marched deep into Russia with nearly half a million soldiers; he returned with less than 25,000. Given that Napoleon was the great captain of his time -- perhaps of all time -- and that his armies...

MOSCOW – While many in the U.S. bemoan what they see as a war on Christmas, in Russia a very different holiday is under attack: Halloween. Here some don’t see it as the holiday of tricks and treats, but as a sinister celebration that endangers children. The latest salvo came from a group of Russian Orthodox Church leaders and a group of Cossacks, who are spearheading an effort to cancel Halloween celebrations in the region of Stavropol Krai, in southern Russia. A nearby region, Krasnodar Krai, recently prohibited celebrating the holiday in schools. But why are the church and the...

Marine archeologists of the Khortytsia National Reserve in Zaporizhia have raised an ancient Cossack warship, a Cossack oak vessel, which had been lying beneath the waters of the reserve for some three centuries. Director of the Pivdenhidroarkheolohia State Enterprise Valeriy Nefedov told Interfax-Ukraine that the 18-meter long Cossack "oak"-type vessel is a "veteran" of the Russian-Turkish war of 1735-1739. "The ancient vessel was discovered in waters near Khortytsia Island in 1999. But it was impossible to lift it due to the lack of assets. Over this time the unique archeological find, which remained lying at a depth of six meters...

One minute we were driving past a column of Russian armour that, according to Moscow, wasn't supposed to be there. The next we were being held up at gunpoint and plunged into that moment when it flashes in your mind that your life is in real danger. A Lada car had suddenly cut us off and three militia brandishing Kalashnikov rifles were dragging us out of our car. Actually our Georgian driver was dragged from the car; I was in the passenger seat and was shoved out by the butt of a rifle in the arms of a wild-eyed bandit...

Hundreds, possibly thousands, of volunteer fighters from Russia were mobilising to enter the war in Georgia's breakaway republic of South Ossetia last night. Units of armed Cossacks from across the North Caucasus region which borders Georgia were poised to join the battle for the separatists' capital, Tskhinvali. In North Ossetia, the region of Russia which shares cultural links and a border with South Ossetia, lists of men willing to fight against Georgian forces were drawn up. Vitaly Khubayev, 35, from the capital, Vladikavkaz, told the Guardian: "There are already two busloads of fighters leaving for Tskhinvali every day. They give...

MIL-IRAQ-MNF-OPERATIONS MNF fighter jets raid Al-Qaeda hideout BAGHDAD, Jan 9 (KUNA) -- US warplanes destroyed one of Al-Qaeda hideouts and Kazakh forces found a weapons depot in separate operations in Iraq. US F-16 fighter jets dropped two 500-pound bombs, destroying a house used by al-Qaeda to make and store improvised explosive devices in Busayefi, near the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, the MNF said in a statement on Wednesday. According to the statement, the operation, conducted on Sunday, was executed by the MNF Center soldiers. The house-turned-hideout was destroyed and explosive making materials were found and confiscated. Another MNF statement said members...

In the first of a series from southern Russia, the BBC's Steven Eke reports on the Cossacks, who have emerged as an influential political group in the region, strongly supportive of Vladimir Putin and his idea of Russia's "greatness". Village leaders like "Ataman" Viktor Vasilyevich are greatly respected The Cossacks play an increasingly important role in Russia. Their disciplined way of life, patriotism, large families and commitment to work, are seen by many politicians as a model that could help resolve many of Russia's problems. For this, they receive support from the very top. The village of Varennikovskoye is home...

KIEV, Ukraine – Chief Rabbi of Ukraine Azriel Chaikin and the Israeli Ambassador to Ukraine Naomi Ben-Ami met with the leader of the Ukrainian Cossacks Anatoliy Schevchenko and the General Judge of Cossacks Igor Kozlovsky. At this meeting, the Cossack leaders assured the Chief Rabbi of Ukraine and the Israeli Ambassador of their support of Israel as it combats terrorism. As a dean of a local higher-education institution, Mr. Schevchenko said his teaching staff was doing everything possible to explain to their students the importance of supporting Israel as well as the need to fight against anti-Semitism and national and...

COSSACKS WAGING HISTORICAL BATTLE; Two aging and dwindling enclaves fight over fate of priceless relics They were Cossacks. For more than half a century, almost nobody paid attention to New Kuban, a refuge for a people with nowhere else to go. Following World War II, some 300 displaced Cossacks - targeted for extinction by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin - created the 814-acre village in western Atlantic County. There, they laid low and remembered what was. They became guardians of precious artifacts sent from other Cossacks-in-hiding from as far as Australia and China. They preserved the past. Now Russia wants it...

KRASNODAR, Russia -- Thousands of Muslims from a small ethnic group known as the Meskhetian Turks are fleeing this Black Sea region for the United States. The exodus is caused by what human rights groups call a campaign of persecution sanctioned by local authorities and spearheaded by the Cossacks, a Russian militia that fought for the czars and is being revived. In the past year, just more than 5,000 Meskhetian Turks have resettled in the United States as refugees, and 4,400 have approval to immigrate, according to the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. Another 7,000 have filed applications that U.S. officials...

KIEV, Ukraine – Chief Rabbi of Ukraine Azriel Chaikin held a meeting with the Getman of the Cossacks in Ukraine, Anatoly Shevchenko, as well as other leaders of that organization. The Jewish leader held the meeting in order to promote inter-ethnic dialogue and to strengthen tolerance and mutual understanding with other ethnic groups in Ukraine. During their conversation, the Cossack leader expressed his deep concern about the recent growth of manifestations of anti-Semitism and xenophobia in Ukraine. He assured Rabbi Chaikin that Ukraine’s Cossacks condemn anti-Semitism and consider any form of xenophobia to be unacceptable, as well as stating that...

(Have at it,gang!)

Cossacks return to state service MOSCOW (RIA Novosti political commentator Vladimir Simonov) - The Saiga hunting rifle beloved of Russia's Cossack community may soon be experiencing a boom in sales if a bill currently going through parliament becomes law. The Duma recently approved in first reading a draft law submitted by President Vladimir Putin on state service by Russian Cossacks. If the bill is passed, Cossacks will be able to return to one of their traditional public roles for the first time in decades. Although the draft does not specify Cossack uniform and military equipment, should it become law some...

VESHENSKAYA, Rostov Region, May 25 (RIA Novosti) - Cossacks asked President Putin on Wednesday to help return Russians to North Caucasian republics. They met with Vladimir Putin in the Veshenskaya Cossack village, where the president arrived at to mark the 100th anniversary since the famous writer and Nobel prize winner Mikhail Sholokhov was born. Chieftain of the Tersky military unit Vasily Bondarev said that the Russian population had reduced from 23% to 3.7% in Chechnya and from 23% to 1.2% in Ingushetia (a republic bordering on Chechnya) in recent decades. "The exodus of Russians from Chechnya and Ingushetia has reached...

Prague, 5 May 2005 (RFE/RL) -- Are you big, strong, moderately educated, and of distinctly Slavic appearance? Say "yes" and you could be in line for a job. These are just some of the key requirements demanded of the Russian president's newly created elite equestrian guard. One more is that you have to be a fully registered Cossack. Not that there has been any shortage of applicants. Twenty-five new recruits to the guard have just taken up residence in their Kremlin quarters -- all of them drawn from the Kuban region of southern Russia, one of the traditional strongholds of...

Putin Enlists Russian Cossacks to Fight Terrorism Created: 13.04.2005 14:15 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 14:15 MSK, 20 hours 23 minutes ago MosNews Russian President Vladimir Putin has submitted to the parliament a draft law on Cossacks, the RIA-Novosti news agency reported on Wednesday. The bill for the first time in modern Russian history allows Cossacks a state role — military, law enforcement and other tasks, including counter-terrorist operations. Cossacks, a separate class within Tsarist Russia, enjoyed numerous freedoms in exchange for the military and border guard services they provided. Being strong supporters of the monarchy, Cossacks suffered from severe repressions...

2005-03-16 21:48 * RUSSIA * FAR EAST * COSSACKS * AMUR COSSACKS TO RE-CREATE ARMY VLADIVOSTOK, March 16 (RIA Novosti) - The Amur Cossack Army will be re-established in the Russian Far East. The decision came up as the Council for Cossack Affairs under the presidential envoy plenipotentiary to federal district Far East gathered for session in Khabarovsk today. The United Cossack Army will bring together the now dispersed Cossack communities in the Khabarovsk Territory, the Amur Region, and the Jewish Autonomous Region. Attending the session were Cossack troops atamans (commanders) from all parts of the Russian Far East, and...

President-elect Viktor Yushchenko, wearing a fur riding cloak, participated Saturday in a traditional Ukrainian Cossack ceremony, accepting a golden mace as a symbol of leadership on the eve of his official inauguration as president of this ex-Soviet state. The ceremony could add to worries among Ukraine's large ethnic Russian population, who fear Yushchenko will cultivate intense nationalism that will lead to discrimination against them. "I am convinced that ... our forefathers were also dreaming of seeing a democratic Ukraine with free people, with free Cossacks," said Yushchenko at the Kiev ceremony, attended by more than 300 Cossacks from Ukraine's south....