Richard Arnold
On January 11, Russia’s war against Ukraine officially surpassed the length of the Great Patriotic War, the name Russians use for their fight against the Nazi invaders from 1941–1945 during World War II (Meduza, January 11). Forced comparisons to the epoch-making fight against Adolf Hitler have hitherto been the Kremlin’s ideological legitimation for its illegal invasion of Ukraine. The Kremlin may require a new historical parallel after surpassing this milestone. While Russian President Vladimir Putin has invoked Peter the Great’s Great Northern War against Sweden before and during the conflict, one might expect the resurrection of movements and social forces from the Imperial era to accompany such claims (Kommersant, January 6, 2022). The Cossacks pose a viable option. Aside from their “centuries-long” service to Russia, praise from Putin’s presidential aid and liaison to the Cossacks, Dmitry Mironov, and inclusion in the strategy for the development of the Russian Cossacks as an “historically serving society,” recent developments suggest this outcome (Kazachestvo, February 25, 2025; Council under the President of the Russian Federation for Cossack Affairs, accessed January 21). The Kremlin has used the Cossacks to promote its war mythology throughout the war against Ukraine. It appears to continue looking to them to maintain support for the war effort within Russian society.
The Volga Cossacks are finalizing agreements to participate in the 2026 Victory Day parade on Red Square. The first prorector of the Samara state technical university, Evgeny Frank, said, “For us, it is a great honor and responsibility to march alongside the heroes of the Special Military Operation in the form of a training unit” (VsKO, January 19). This remark stands out for several reasons. On the one hand, the Volga region is not commonly associated with the historical and romantic image of the Cossacks, which further supports inferences about the nationalization of the movement across Russia (see EDM, May 29, October 30, 2025). The comment coming from an official of the Cossack further supports open-source intelligence (OSINT) investigations—including one recently published in Bellingcat—which have found that cloaked Cossack movements in the region have been playing an important role in luring recruits to give their lives to Russia’s war effort (Bellingcat, December 5, 2025). On the other hand, the inclusion of yet more Cossacks on Russia’s most sanctified stage of the Victory Day Parade testifies to their importance to the regime and the creation of its military might.
No comments:
Post a Comment