Kremlin tests Cossacks as an auxiliary police force

MOSCOW — Renowned for their sword-fighting prowess and notorious for their anti-Semitism in czarist Russia, the Cossacks are taking on new foes: beggars, drunks and improperly parked cars.

With the approval of city authorities, eight Cossacks clad in traditional fur hats and uniforms patrolled a Moscow train station on Tuesday looking for signs of minor public disturbances.

The Kremlin is seeking to use the once-feared paramilitary squads in its new drive to promote conservative values and appeal to nationalists.

The southern Krasnodar province — which includes Sochi, the site of the 2014 Winter Olympics — launched Cossack patrols in September to crack down on Muslim migrants from the neighboring Caucasus.

Now they have made it to the Russian capital.

Cossacks trace their history in Russia back to the 15th century. Serving in the czarist cavalry, they spearheaded imperial Russia’s expansion in exchange for special privileges, including the right to govern their own villages.

In the 2010 census, about 650,000 Russians declared themselves Cossacks.

Tuesday’s patrol was a test run on whether the group can become an armed and salaried auxiliary police force, with the power of arrest, patrol leader Igor Gurevich said. He compared his forces to the Texas Rangers, the crusading law-enforcement body in the U.S. state.

“They are just like Cossacks, and they work for the government, but they’re welcomed with open arms. How come this should be allowed in America, but not in Russia, with our rich Cossack traditions? We’re like Chuck Norris!” Mr. Gurevich said, in reference to the star of “Walker, Texas Ranger.”

Mr. Gurevich’s group, which he said numbers up to 85, has patrolled southwestern Moscow with police approval for the past year, and has brought about 35 arrests. They are unpaid but receive free public transport passes and uniforms.

The conservative Cossacks have increased their political activity in response to an impromptu protest that feminist punk rockers staged in Moscow’s main cathedral in February.

Groups of Cossacks recently barred visitors from entering a Moscow art exhibition that daubed the band’s trademark balaclavas over Orthodox Christian icons, and they led a successful campaign to cancel a staging of Vladimir Nabokov’s racy novel “Lolita” in St. Petersburg.

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