The village of our homeland

Photo: ITAR-TASS

UPDATE: 17.40

The Committee for Cossack Affairs of the city of Moscow and the prefecture of the Central Administrative District disowned the Cossacks who came out to the Belorussky railway station. “The exit of the group of Cossacks (...) was not agreed upon in the prescribed manner and is a personal initiative of one of the atamans,” the statement said. The document emphasizes that “the Department of Internal Affairs for the Central Administrative District of the Moscow City Internal Affairs Directorate did not receive documents or requests for joint patrolling of the district territory with the Cossacks. The city headquarters of the people’s squad did not assign Cossack squads to patrol this area on November 27. The Department of Regional Security of the city of Moscow also “no approvals were issued to ensure public order with the involvement of representatives of the Cossacks.” According to the authors of the statement, the Cossack special squad is just being formed, and the estimated date for its inclusion in the city people's squad is the beginning of 2013.

In Moscow, following Krasnodar, Cossack patrols appeared on a regular basis, while they work for free. They promised to fight against illegal parking and trade, but on the first day they did nothing, they scared everyone and only did interviews.

30 people, 25 of whom are photographers - a picture familiar to those who have been attending Strategy-31 events on Triumfalnaya Square on the 31st of every month for many years. Today, the role of dissenters is played by the Cossacks who went to patrol the center of Moscow. Several people gathered at 10 am at the building of the Central Administrative District Prefecture on Marksistskaya Street, and then went on a special bus to the square near the Belorussky railway station.

Photo: Ekaterina Savina/PublicPost

The press service of the South-Eastern Administrative District (the patrol is an idea of two districts) announced that the Cossacks will “monitor law and order, suppress illegal parking and unauthorized trade.” And, according to the prefect of the South-Eastern Administrative District Vladimir Zotov, such squads have been operating in his district for a long time. Now, as Nikolai Komarovsky, adviser to the Moscow Committee for Cossack Affairs, said a few weeks ago, “the Committee for Cossack Affairs and the regional security department have developed regulations on a specialized Cossack people’s squad, which will be part of the Moscow people’s squad.” The total number of Cossacks on the streets of Moscow is promised to be 600 people. They will walk around in their suits, wearing a hat, but without weapons - not even whips, and accompanied by police officers. There have been such patrols in the Krasnodar Territory since the summer - Cossacks there complain that they cannot detain violators.

Photo: Ekaterina Savina/PublicPost

But so far there are few Cossacks, and they are obviously confused. One of them, Igor Gulichev from the Cossack society of the South-East Administrative District, told reporters that the Cossacks are like the Texas Rangers. “Why is this possible in America, but not here in Russia, with our rich history of the Cossacks,” he was indignant. Rangers, however, have the right to bear arms, and “the weapon of the Cossacks is the word.” “We will influence with persuasion. It works for some, for others it doesn’t, and for those it doesn’t, we will act through police officers who will already understand the details,” Gulichev explained to reporters, slightly confused in his words. The journalists were impressed by his astrakhan fur hat.

Photo: Ekaterina Savina/PublicPost

After this, several people went into the underground passage under the bridge near the Belorussky railway station, almost blocking pedestrian traffic there. There, an elderly Cossack from Ryazan, Valentin Degtyarev (he had recently joined the Cossack squad, only two years), found his first victim - Marina, who was selling Lurex blouses. Marina, after some arguing, began collecting and packing the goods “just so as not to get involved.” There is a permit to trade, she claims. Looking at this, the old women selling mushrooms and socks literally took off from their homes. The Cossacks, it seems, were quite satisfied with this victory. At least they refused to go further and returned to the station to give interviews. The “patrol” lasted less than an hour, and the police did not accompany him - although Gulichev said that “there is someone in civilian clothes,” this “someone” was not visible. The date for the next patrol was also not set.