Cossacks are being used by Russia’s president to enforce his will (Reuters)
The Independent: Vladimir Putin deploys Cossacks to Moscow for first time in a century to suppress protests
'Cossacks in southern Russia is one thing, but they have a bad reputation in the capital. People remember how they were used against students and the intelligentsia in the run-up to the revolution'.
Russia’s minority opposition is by now used to many things – but few of its members were prepared for the scene that greeted them last Saturday.
Instead of arriving at an anti-Putin rally, demonstrators found that nationalist “demonstrators” and Cossack soldiers had already taken up positions on the main square.
In the uneasy standoff and violent crackdown that followed, these irregular formations appeared to work in sync with police forces, peeling off protesters one by one, some using traditional Cossack leather whips. In total, police arrested 719 in Moscow that day. Several were hospitalised.
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WNU Editor: This is not going down well for many in Russia right now.
