The Cossacks performed an essential position within the formation of the Russian Empire. They lived in
communities referred to as hosts on the sides of the empire. They function underneath
a army hierarchy dominated by a chief,
the Ataman. Because of their loyalty to the Tsar, the Cossacks have been repressed by the
Bolsheviks after 1917.
Credit score: Journal “Chronicle of Warfare”, 1915; Nicholas II amongst officers
When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the Cossacks’ descendants
referred to as for a “rebirth”.
In 2005, a invoice submitted by President Vladimir Putin allowed registered Cossack organisations members
to serve in army items and police forces.
Credit score: tamvesti.ru
New hosts have been created in historically non-Cossack lands with a
number of establishments
to direct them. In 2018, the federal government
united them within the “All-Russian Cossack
Society”. Putin tries to marginalise the standard Cossack teams, analyst Paul Globe instructed
Bellingcat whereas those “he has created for his personal functions” play a “main position in army and
patriotic training”.
Credit score: Kremlin
Based on Kuznetsov, the VSKO
priorities are “improvement of army Cossack societies in all instructions: training, tradition,
historical past, and most significantly, youth. The whole lot by way of youth.”
EVERYTHING THROUGH YOUTH
Cossack training might be divided into major, secondary, and tertiary ranges, all with the purpose
of
selling a unified system.
On the major degree are the Cossack kindergartens, which compete
nationally
to be named one of the best.
There are Cossack colleges and common colleges with a Cossack affiliation.
Information from 2022
declare there have been slightly below 2000 such establishments with round 210,000 college students, however
latest claims level to over 300,000
college students.
Probably the most intense degree of Cossack training is the Cossack Cadets Corps, of which there are
31 throughout the nation, with the most recent corps created in Russia’s Far East.
They
additionally
compete nationally.
Lastly, the Affiliation of
Cossack
Universities has 26 members,
with many concentrated in
Rostov and Krasnodar. There may be additionally a
Union of Cossack Youth, which
in 2022
had extra
than 163,000 members. Greater than
5,500
Cossack youth
took half in army workouts on coaching
grounds in 2023.
Oleg’s story demonstrates how younger individuals outdoors formal Cossack training can nonetheless get pulled
in. It additionally reveals that the Cossacks are however one in all a number of interlaced methods for
“military-patriotic” training.
Credit score: Picture of youth working towards placing on a fuel masks, posted on VKontakte by Lyceum N.3.
He studied in Lyceum N.3, a state-funded academic establishment in Saratov. Usually, the college
promotes occasions just like the nationwide
Zarnitsa
competitors. It consists of actions like “placing on fuel masks” or “sniper video games” for third
graders.
The varsity’s
army membership “Fakel”
acts as an middleman for these occasions and different nationwide army training initiatives such because the 24-hour-long
Avangard coaching for tenth graders.
In 2024,
Natalia
Saprykina,
the director of Lyceum N.3, was
awarded
a Letter of Gratitude for her “contribution to the patriotic training of the youthful
technology” by
a Deputy of the
Regional
Duma.
Oleg graduated from highschool in 2023 on the age of 17.
In the identical 12 months he enrolled in InPIT, the next training
establishment of the Saratov State Technical College.
By November Oleg had turned 18 and was
carrying
army fatigues and practising survival abilities alongside different candidates of a
“military-patriotic” pupil affiliation named Berkut, at one other native college, the
Saratov State Legislation Academy (SSLA).
Although Berkut is just not explicitly a Cossack organisation, we established a number of
connections between the pinnacle of Berkut, Alexander Andreevich, and Cossack organisations. As
we’ll see, Andreevich was current at a number of army fashion coaching camps that Oleg took
half in.
Neither does its
web page
within the College web site.
The affiliation’s official targets are “forming a constructive picture of army service” and
“popularisation of service within the Russian military and legislation enforcement companies”. It’s headed by
Alexander Andreevich.
Nevertheless, a few of Berkut’s
movies
embody the banner of a
Молодёжная казачья
организация.
A Telegram
publish
by Andrey Fetisov, the Saratov District Ataman, refers to Berkut as a “Cossack Youth Motion”.
Although Berkut (left) shares a reputation and eagle iconography with a infamous
Ukrainian particular police
power (proper), a part of which defected to Russia through the occupation of Crimea in 2014,
Bellingcat discovered no hyperlink between the 2 organisations.
FROM WAR GAMES TO REAL WEAPONS
By December 2023, nearing the top of the primary semester, Oleg and the opposite candidates
took the Berkut oath,
making them official members. Oath-taking ceremonies are
“invented
traditions”
amongst Cossack forces.
Atop the dais stand senior members of Berkut, together with the pinnacle of the organisation – Alexander
Andreevich.
Andreevich is an energetic Cossack who has been working underneath the steerage of District Ataman Andrey Fetisov since at the very least April 2023.
Extra lately, in January 2025, they have been each delivering a
lesson
to Cossack youngsters for Yunarmiya,
exemplifying the overlapping community of youth militarisation initiatives.
In
July
2025, they each
attended
Saratov’s Council of Atamans that was hosted on the
Ministry of Inner Coverage and Public Relations of
Saratov.
Native
organisations
usually meet there.
In August 2024, Andreevich attended the
iVolga
Cossack Youth Competition, the place he met
Kuznetsov.
The one two individuals featured talking in an
official video.
Andreevich additionally led Oleg to 2 military-inspired occasions in April 2024.
The primary, on April 13, was the annual Airsoft competitors.
5 days later they went to a coaching that
included trench ways and simulated helicopter jumps.
Since
2023,
Oleg usually wore a particular yellow and crimson
“Скорпион”
name signal patch on his chest when carrying army fatigues, which distinguishes him from different
youth on the occasions. That and different distinctive options determine him even with a masks or
goggles.
Bellingcat was in a position to geolocate this place to be a
Rosgvardia
coaching floor
on the outskirts of Saratov.
Notably, the trenches usually are not seen on Google Earth however are on Yandex Maps, which has newer imagery for
the area.
This group picture tells its personal story. The flags seen are, from left to proper, for the Volga Cossack Host, the Immortal Regiment, the Kuban Cossack Host, and Veteran Information.
Oleg is on the far proper carrying his “Scorpion” and Berkut patches.
This time, ex-fighters have been there too.
Sergey Frolkov
is an
ex-fighter within the conflict on
Ukraine.
He
usually
posts
pictures
with an Akhmat particular forces patch, related to
Kadryovites
. He’s additionally a
member
of the native
Fight Brotherhood
affiliation.
As is
Oleg Mysov, one other returned fighter who additionally
engages in “patriotic training of youth”
occasions.
Each have
attended Cossack occasions.
Although on this picture they’re holding the Volga Cossack Host flag, Bellingcat couldn’t
clearly determine them as Cossacks.
A 3rd man,
Andrey Berdnikov
is certainly
a
Cossack
and a former
fighter of BARS-15, the Battalion Oleg
joined, although he was
reportedly expelled by his Commander. On the
left, Alexander Andreevich.
Bellingcat contacted Sergey Frolkov, Oleg Mysov and Andrey Berdnikov earlier than publication to
ask about their roles, however didn’t obtain a response.
5 months later, in
September 2024,
Oleg
went
on a two-day coaching. Andrey Fetisov
obtained a particular thanks
for the chance.
Bellingcat geolocated it to a army coaching floor in Samara, the identical location the place
different
Cossack recruits
educated earlier than deploying to BARS-15. Fetisov himself
shared pictures
of this coaching floor
two weeks after stepping down
as Ataman to affix BARS-15. Andreevich left and Oleg proper in
this
picture.
They used actual weapons this time. A
video montage
reveals contributors firing stay rounds.
That is
a
picture
that features Oleg, Fetisov, and Andreevich. The primary media we discovered for this occasion
is from early September
which is per the
solar place
on this picture and the grass patches seen in satellite tv for pc imagery from early September 2024.
Bellingcat contacted Kuznetsov, Fetisov and Andreevich to ask about their roles within the Cossack
group, however they haven’t responded.
That is the final time Bellingcat was in a position to hint Oleg’s whereabouts with open sources earlier than
he joined BARS-15.
VOLUNTARY RECRUITMENT
Many nations have a volunteer reserve system for getting extra troopers in occasions of conflict. In
Russia, the system is named
BARS,
created in 2015
and
intensified
in
2021.
All BARS fighters signal a contract with the Ministry of Protection and receives a commission.
Mapping the geolocated positions of those items within the
UAControlMaps Venture dataset
reveal widespread areas of operations. BARS Battalions are sometimes reorganised.
Estimates
put the whole quantity thus far at
over 30 BARS Battalions and 10 of them
have overt Cossack affiliation.
Cossacks additionally
function
as detachments in different army constructions.
By
their very own reckoning,
in February there have been greater than 18,500 Cossacks on the entrance traces in Ukraine. In Might the
first-ever nationwide Ataman, Nikolai Doluda, gave the next determine of 46,000
Cossacks.
As of 2024, British Professor Rod Thornton estimated
that BARS represent some 10-30,000 troops in Ukraine, 15% of the whole invasion power.
