Organisation whose members attacked protesters at recent anti-Putin rally enlisted to help National Guard in Moscow

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Pro-Kremlin Cossack fighters – like the ones who used leather whips to attack protesters at an opposition rally in Moscow at the weekend – are to patrol the streets of the Russian capital at the World Cup, according to reports.

The fighters, in traditional Cossack fur hats, joined forces with police and the National Guard security force to crack down on Saturday’s protest ahead of Vladimir Putin’s inauguration for a fourth presidential term on Monday.



More than 700 people, including the opposition leader Alexei Navalny, were detained. Navalny was released early on Sunday, but faces up to 30 days in jail on charges of organising an illegal rally. He has been ordered to appear in court on 11 May. Protesters also gathered in scores of cities and towns across Russia in the biggest anti-Putin demonstrations for almost a year.

“We’ll do over anyone who makes trouble against Putin,” an unnamed Cossack was reported as saying by the Meduza news website. Cossacks also used sticks to lash out at protesters who had gathered at Moscow’s Pushkin Square.

Play Video 1:12 Alexei Navalny and scores more arrested at anti-Putin rally – video

Some of the assailants were identified as members of the Central Cossack Troops (CCT), an organisation that has close ties to Russia’s security forces. Moscow’s administration has paid the organisation almost £190,000 to train Cossacks in how to “ensure public safety” at events in the city, according to documents published by the mayor’s office.

The Cossack organisation’s members recently met with National Guard officials to discuss security operations for the World Cup, which kicks off on 14 June. Russian media identified the CCT’s ataman, or leader, as Ivan Mironov, a former FSB state security service officer.



More than 300 Cossacks are also due to work alongside police in Rostov-on-Don, the southern Russian city that will host four World Cup group matches and a round-of-16 game.



Maxim Shevchenko, a member of the Kremlin’s human rights council, called for an urgent session of the council to discuss the authorities’ use of “fascist” Cossack fighters to break up Saturday’s protest in Moscow.



Denis Krivosheev, Amnesty International’s deputy director for eastern Europe and central Asia, accused Russian police of failing to act while “people in Cossack uniforms” beat protesters.



The Kremlin has in recent years encouraged a revival of the Cossacks, the descendants of the fiery Tsarist-era horsemen who once guarded Russia’s southern borders.



Cossacks have acted as an auxiliary police force in some cities, undertaking street patrols on the lookout for illegal immigrants. They have also taken part in raids on art galleries and theatres deemed to have displayed “blasphemous” material. Cossack paramilitary groups have fought alongside Russian-led separatists in eastern Ukraine.

They have also targeted Kremlin critics. In 2016, a group of Cossacks attacked Navalny and his supporters in Anapa, a city in southern Russia. Members of Pussy Riot, the anti-Kremlin performance art group, were set on by Cossacks ahead of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. No charges were brought against the assailants in either case.

Hundreds of members of the Kremlin-backed Molodaya Gvardiya youth movement also helped police make arrests at Saturday’s rally in Moscow, while activists from the pro-Putin National Liberation Movement were involved in scuffles with protesters.