The whip defies the stick
By Tatiana Britskaya
Chaika, the presidential envoy to the North Caucasus, spoke at a meeting of the Presidential Council for Cossack Affairs. Yes, there is such a thing. At first, according to the former prosecutor general, they thought it would be interesting to create separate Cossack battalions in the National Guard and to park their residences compactly. Once that was resolved, they would be ready to be imported for appropriate practices across the country.
At the same time, reality has long overtaken the most violent fantasies of having “Cossacks wandering on reindeer”. It is a great country. How and why exactly would they send the Cossacks to the Arctic? Nevertheless, they were sent and in the midst of the third pandemic wave, they organized a festival of Cossack culture called “Cossacks in the North” near Murmansk.
Then they chose the banks of the Kola River just south of Murmansk as the location for the Cossack games. But it was a questionable choice. The shore of the Kola River has long been the center of the scandal. A year ago, after an investment of 60 million, or nearly 700,000 euros, people were surprised at what they got for their money. It wasn’t so much the crooked asphalt and, to say the least, the meager landscaping. There was also a whale, an amazing sculpture of a whale, the symbol of the city of Kola. The author of the sketch, Murmansk blacksmith Maksim Prozhevarov, was also very surprised to look at the “physical realization” of his idea. Instead of the two-meter steel monster he designed, which children could easily climb, they instead built a small stone animal on a high pedestal surrounded by green plastic waves. The funniest of all is the “face” of the animal. Local art critics said they saw the words, “We had 60 million. We just couldn’t resist.
Not far from the uncertain whale, people with whips settled down. They walk big. A grant of half a million has been issued from the regional budget for this festival. That’s barely less than the amount they claimed they just couldn’t find for the regional children’s hospital emergency repairs. On the Cossacks, however, they did not skimp.
Generally, they have not been stingy for several years now. The inexperienced public is still amazed by the very fact of their presence beyond the Arctic Circle. However, they passed a regional law four years ago allowing Cossacks to receive money from the regional treasury. 500 thousand per year for each of the Cossack companies entered in the Russian register.
PUBLICITY
Of course, a scandal erupted some time after the law was passed. It turned out that some Cossack representatives believed in a global conspiracy and announced the mass murder of Jews on social media.
The authorities’ argument was that these Internet Cossacks actually called themselves Cossacks. It was above all posing and it was not the real Cossacks who received scholarships and subsidies. The argument isn’t convincing though because technically they’re all self-proclaimed, if you allow me to say so.
“I’m still a beginner as a Cossack,” a man with a whip explains shyly. He wears a camouflage uniform with three “For Service” medals. These medals are generally given to couriers and bailiffs. “You better talk to my boss. Our comrades observe the Cossack way of life, the expected attitude towards service and our faith. I’m not from a Cossack family in general, but, you know, it’s good to have friends after my service. Many of our staff come to us from the Ministry of the Interior and the FSB.
It was not possible to know exactly for which agency the citizen with the whip worked. Apparently he fell into the Cossacks by inertia. But his “boss”, a young man wearing a fur hat and a Circassian, a traditional Cossack uniform, immediately said he worked in the Monchegorsk security company. The chef was recommended by Petr Leonidovich. This guard chief has only 10 Cossacks under his command but they belong to “Kola Farm” so it would be fairer to call my subject a foreman.
The traditional Cossack practice of sowing rye and wheat in Monchegorsk, of course, does not work. The Norilsk Nickel factory operates in the city and therefore of course the local landscape around it is already lunar. Therefore, the Cossacks go for things like “maintaining order”. The chief explains laconically that it is about “a physical training with weapons and a good education of the children”. And then he adds that in addition to protecting order, his association takes the patriotic education of children seriously. They try to teach them the things that we all have in common.
At this point, the conversation is interrupted by a brief discussion with several men armed with sabers about the prospect of “common women”.
Peter claims that his associates belong to a “central army”. It really exists now and it unites the Cossack societies of the regions in places where historically the Cossacks have never lived. But it turns out that this choice was not made freely. It all happened during a long-lasting repression and dispossession. In this army, however, there is no mention of the Murmansk region and even less of Monchegorsk. Monchegorsk is generally the historic land of the Finno-Ugric Sami people.
Meanwhile, Aleksey Zubarev, a portly man in a blue camouflage and a cap with a blue stripe, explains into a microphone how the aristocratic aristocrats help by studying at the Agribusiness Engineering Academy under the guidance of the Ministry of Agriculture and Orenburg. Cossack State University. Here, perhaps the memory of our comrade fails him because it is the State University of Orenburg which merged with the “first Cossack university”. This is what the Moscow Razumovsky State University of Technology and Management is currently called.
According to Zubarev, the knowledge gained helps the Cossacks in business, especially in a new dairy business that is about to appear in the village of Nikel on the border with Norway. It is clearly a question of creating a company with the sound name “Cossacks of the North”. The CEO and founder of this dairy farm, according to the tax authorities, is the same Alexei Zubarev. The company was registered only six months ago, so there are no particular results yet. There are 30 cows but they are not in Nikel. They are currently hosted in the Kola region. This allows the company to maintain the status of “resident of the arctic zone”. This status comes with significant tax advantages. The governor of the Murmansk region, Andrey Chibis, has approved that the Cossacks invest 37.5 million rubles, around 430,000 euros, in the production of meat and milk in the Pechenga region. Ataman Zubarev, the Cossack word for leader, calls it an even more impressive figure of 48 million. So far, however, the actual figure we know appears to be only 30 million. This money was allocated to the project not by the Cossacks, but by Norilsk Nickel.
The gatherings are heterogeneous. They are however expressive men with their blue stripes of varying widths and large award crosses on their uniforms. Judging by the color of their uniforms, they appear to be part of the Terek Army. But this is not the case. These are the “St. Cossack Society of the City of St. Petersburg and Imperial Convoy”, no more, no less.
Petr Bolychev, the journalist from Murmansk and specialist in the history of the region is indignant. “If they are really there to respect traditions, and they talk about it all the time, why did they need to invent a new uniform? Guys who do military pageants look more decent. They really make up the traditional uniforms exactly. And when they are in uniform, they are not called “NKVD troops”. It was the name of the Ministry of the Interior of the Soviet Union, abbreviated NKVD ”,
Peter says that if we are talking about the story of Kola, the exiled Pugachevians, descendants of the losers of the peasants’ war of 1773-1775, also known as the Cossack rebellion, or the Razins, those of the Le lineage. uprising of the peasant war of 1667-1671 under the leadership of Stepan Razin, could theoretically enter it. But it is extremely unlikely that their descendants are counted among today’s “official” Polar Cossacks. And, recalling that the first appearance of the Cossack phenomena occurred in Murmansk in the 90s, he philosophically notes that “The more uncomfortable the governor, the more he is ready to befriend any guy. of local groups in the region ”.
“I am a free Cossack from Murmansk,” said Vladimir, two meters high and wearing a green camouflage. Vladimir, in his own words, had ancestors among the Yaik Cossacks of the Ural Mountains. But his interest in his roots was awakened after visiting the Sober Russia festival. Vladimir now introduces himself as a mentor at the “School of Courage” and teaches “The Way of the Warrior”. The job he and his comrades do is to give boys raised without a father some masculine energy. The course they teach includes physical training, “moral values stories” and for some reason walking on glass and nails.
The Cossack yogi leaves me and joins a group of girls dancing around a birch tree in a bathtub. The leader of the group stimulates the girls with a green crown on their heads.
At the celebration of the festival, there are perhaps two dozen Cossack women and as many spectators. There are also two priests. One of them enthusiastically examines a photo on his smartphone with a man with a red five-pointed star on his cap.
On the posters, you can read almost historical information about the former Russian Cossacks in the service of princes and proto-Cossacks during the time of the Golden Horde. These are Donian Cossacks who were recognized as an autonomous state from the end of the 16th century until 1918. Suddenly it starts to rain and our modern Cossacks are donning windbreakers over their uniforms and open umbrellas. .
The meager exhibition continues under a canopy. There is a 3D printed whisk wrapped in cellophane, a “Putin” quote, jugs, hoops and a Kuban moonlight recipe.
“A lot of soldiers come to us. They love uniforms and suspenders. Monchegorsk’s “ataman” naively admits. “There are already many of us in the region, maybe as many as three thousand. “
This story is originally published in Russian by Novaïa Gazeta.
It is translated into English by Adam Goodman, editor and essayist of the ecological site green2021.org