Cossacks: Protectors of Russian Tradition

Easter service at a Cossack church in Novorossiisk.? 




Cossacks, whose centuries-old militaristic societies were suppressed under Soviet rule, have recently reclaimed their old role as protectors of Russian tradition, and have also cultivated increasingly close ties with the Orthodox Church.

Cadet Nikita Shulga, 12, in a prayer room at the Novorossiisk Cossack Cadet Corps.

A break at a Cossack school.

Sergei Zagorulko, 54, has a license to work as a mentor of Cossack youth.

Roman Astakhov, 48, was born on a farm in Russia's southern Kuban region. Roman is the ataman of the Kuban Cossacks farm society.

Anatoly Sobolev, 77, is a petty officer in the army.

Valery Barbarosh, 54, born in Horlivka, Donetsk region, holds the rank of a yesaul, chairman of the Belorechensk Cossack Society Court of Honor.

Vladimir Chinyonov, 60, with his family. His grandfather's family was deported to the Siberian Krasnoyarsk region in the 1920s, but they escaped and backed to Kuban on foot.

Igor Korolkov, 43, the Belorechensk Cossack Society's deputy ataman in charge of patriotic education and sports.

A Cossack Dzhigit horseman performing in Taman, Krasnodar region.