Anarchy is the mother of order

Don Cossacks rebel against migration policy

The authorities of the Rostov region urgently created a special commission that is looking into the incident related to the unauthorized seizure of the Resurrection Cathedral in Starocherkassk by Cossacks. The arbitrariness committed by the army came as a complete surprise to everyone. On the Don, they are already quite unaccustomed to the anarchist uprisings of the Cossacks, which the army carried out in the early 90s of the last century, seizing mansions in the center of Rostov and holding them for several months.

What adds piquancy to the situation is the fact that the current ataman of the All-Great Don Army, Viktor Vodolatsky, is also the deputy governor of the Rostov region. However, the regional authorities are now more concerned about other initiatives of the Cossacks, who have advocated a sharp tightening of internal migration policy - in other words, the fight against Caucasians.

Actually, the reason for the Cossack gathering was just another emergency involving migrants. The other day, immigrants from Dagestan, now living on the Don, in the city of Salsk, got into a fight with the indigenous Salsk youth. As a result, one local resident was killed and several were seriously injured. By tradition, the Don Army reacts very sharply to incidents of this kind. Moreover, last August, when a Chechen living in the Remontninsky district of the Rostov region was suspected of raping the daughter of a yurt ataman, the Cossacks even went on a military campaign, almost committing lynching. A serious clash was then avoided only thanks to the prompt actions of the authorities, who brought law enforcement forces to Remontnoe.

This time, the atamans did not announce a campaign, but in absentia at the gathering they presented claims to the administration of the city of Salsk, which allegedly deliberately concealed the emergency, trying to present it solely as hooliganism. According to Viktor Vodolatsky, Salsky officials turned a blind eye to a long-standing problem, and yet what happened, in the opinion of the ataman, is nothing more than an interethnic clash. According to Mr. Vodolatsky, some government officials have a stake in the gambling and entertainment business, which is allegedly supervised by Dagestanis, and therefore are trying to “hush up” any incident with their participation.

At the gathering, the adviser to the President of Russia on Cossack issues, General Gennady Troshev, also suffered from the incensed Cossacks, who allowed himself to doubt the legitimacy of the current Ataman of the All-Great Don Army, who is also the Deputy Governor, as well as the Supreme Ataman of the Union of Cossack Troops of Russia and Abroad. They say that the three-year term for which the Cossack head was elected has expired. The Cossacks reminded Mr. Troshev that the ataman’s term was not three, but five years. The hottest military heads even suggested, as an edification, that the former commander of the North Caucasus Military District, military general and Hero of Russia Gennady Troshev be given five lashes to better remember such important numbers. True, such an extremist proposal did not pass.

But the Cossacks decided to appeal to President Putin with a request to tighten internal migration policy in relation primarily to those who do not accept the established Don way of life. This clearly meant, first of all, people from the Caucasian republics. The army even proposed holding local referendums on the advisability of migrants who do not fit into the local sociocultural landscape staying on the Don. And at the same time he called on the regional authorities to follow the example of the Krasnodar Territory, which created a commission that in every possible way facilitates the resettlement of Meskhetian Turks from the Kuban to the United States.

While the Cossacks were discussing the pressing problems of migration, they became so excited that they began to look for new objects to apply their reform efforts. As a result, with the words “and shame on us that the temple has not yet been transferred to the Rostov diocese, but remains a museum,” they occupied the Resurrection Cathedral located next door. Along the way, a museum employee ended up being taken hostage by the Cossacks; however, she was released a few hours later. But the building itself, which is federal property, was closed with a heavy barn lock.

Deputy Ataman of the Great Don Army Vladimir Voronin admits that the Cossacks went too far with the capture of the cathedral. But he immediately says that the Cossacks can no longer tolerate the fact that “tourists in shorts and girls with bare navels” go to the holy place. It turns out that the Cossacks raised the question of returning the monument to the Rostov diocese ten years ago, but have still not achieved their goal.

The most interesting thing is that the authorities are not against returning the church building to the local diocese. However, emphasizes the regional administration employee in charge of religious issues, Vitaly Brezhnev, the procedure must be carried out in a civilized manner and strictly within the framework of the law. Having created a special commission, the regional authorities are now trying to return the process to the law. At least the Cossacks removed their barn castle from the temple. And starting this week, the Resurrection Cathedral has again become accessible to tourists and museum workers.

Larisa NIKITINA, Rostov-on-Don