Russian cossacks
Today's Cossacks comprise something of a paramilitary class, operating as a type of auxiliary police force. And with their traditional fur hats and lead-weighted whips, they still carry resonance among Russia's more conservative factions, as symbols of moral discipline and fierce loyalty to the regime. Many Cossack groups were nearly wiped out by the ruling Bolsheviks after the Russian Revolution, though they've enjoyed something of a revival in post-Soviet Russia. They first emerged as a warrior–horseman class during the Middle Ages and eventually became an integral part of the czarist military regime, expanding the Russian Empire with conquests along its southern border and quashing uprisings from peasants and workers. The Cossacks' precise origins remain an issue of debate among historians, though they have a long history of keeping order in Russia. It also shed new light on modern-day Cossacks, who have played an increasingly prominent role in policing gay rallies and stoking nationalist sentiment - all under the tacit, if not explicit, consent of Russian authorities. Images and footage of the incident quickly spread across the media, marking the latest in what many see as the Kremlin's ongoing crackdown on dissent. A member of Pussy Riot's entourage later said that the men told them to "shut their mouths" and that they "sold themselves to the Americans." Brandishing horsewhips and pepper spray, the men struck several women in the band, forcing one to the ground and forcibly removing their trademark neon-colored ski masks.
On Wednesday, at least 10 Cossacks and suspected plainclothes officers attacked members of the punk collective Pussy Riot in downtown Sochi, where the group was shooting a music video for a new protest song.
RUSSIAN COSSACKS CODE
So far, though, the forces making headlines out of Sochi aren't armed policemen or military guards, but Cossacks: a group of deeply traditional militiamen who are seen as both Olympic mascots and vigilante crusaders, enforcing the kind of conservative moral code that has become a cornerstone of President Vladimir Putin's domestic agenda. The enormous scale of Russia's Olympic security apparatus has been well documented - 40,000 armed forces, 11,000 closed circuit cameras, and an all-powerful electronic surveillance system, all designed to prevent terrorist attacks and domestic unrest at the Winter Games.