Genuine Russian Cossacks Fight For Ukraine Against Putin's Regime

The record of Russia’s Cossack movements fighting for and supporting the Kremlin in Ukraine has been widely documented (see EDM, July 2, 7, 2025, April 6). Less reported on, however, is the participation of genuine (ancestral) Russian Cossacks fighting on the side of Ukraine against Russian imperialist forces. The division dates back to the conception of “Cossack” as either a soslovie (military estate) or an etnos (ethnic group) (YouTube/@ponarseurasia1554, September 21, 2022). The Cossack identity was co-opted by Tsarist regimes to entrench the military within Russian civilian communities on the empire’s borders, but those who saw Cossack identity as a matter of ancestry—the so-called “free” Cossacks—resisted such co-optation (see EDM, February 2, 2021). Russia’s war against Ukraine has given the regime the chance to strengthen its persecution of the free Cossack movement (Russia Post, May 9, 2025). Today, the high point of Kremlin attempts to commandeer the movement takes the form of supposedly “official” hosts united under the All-Russian Cossack Society and participating in actions such as patrolling the streets of Russian cities (VsKO, April 10). The free Cossacks are fighting back, however, and joining sides with those battling continued Russian imperialism.

Free Cossacks from the Don and Krasnodar regions have joined the Russian Volunteer Corps (Русский добровольческий корпус; Russkiy dobrovolcheskiy korpus, RDK). These Cossacks came to fight “against the dogs of the Kremlin regime” and took part in some of the fiercest battles of the war in Avdiivka and Svatove. They “call on those for whom Cossack freedom and honor are not just empty words to join its ranks” (Focus, February 8, 2024). Considered terrorist organizations in Russia, they have fought “shoulder to shoulder” with Ukrainian counterparts in opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime. They are highly critical of false, regime-oriented structures that use the label “Cossack.” A Cossack from Kuban named Roman told a reporter, “When I was 16, I got acquainted with some Cossacks who said they also did not like all this, did not like this power. But in fact [the Union of Kuban Cossacks] is simply a structure to control young people” (Novaya Gazeta, December 29, 2024). Roman described himself as a “Cossack nationalist” and was motivated to fight by the liberation of Cossack lands (Novaya Gazeta, December 29, 2024). Military posts on the RDK’s Telegram channel describe attacks from free Cossacks, such as when one Cossack volunteer with the nom de guerre Kuban used a high-explosive aviation bomb (HEAB) to hit a barracks of Russian soldiers with 8.5 kilograms of explosives (Telegram/@rvc_army, January 20, 2025).

Free Cossacks also represent a powerful alternative to the Kremlin’s definition of Russian reality and an opportunity for Ukrainian psyops. When the full-scale invasion was first declared, unconfirmed rumors circulated of a rally of free Cossacks in Orenburg oblast (see EDM, March 30, 2022). The free Cossacks are an important component of visions for a Post-Putin Russia, some of which envision the disintegration of the current Russian state and the creation of an independent “Cossackia” in the North Caucasus (see EDM, March 14, 2013).

Given the implications for the Russian state of such a shift among peoples within the Russian Federation seeking liberation, countries facing the threat of Russian imperialism have shown interest in supporting these peoples. Kyiv has made efforts to assist these movements, conducting outreach to national minorities within Russia (see EDM, January 1, February 1, July 30, August 8, 2024, May 7). Ukraine is not alone in trying to provoke such occurrences inside Russia. On September 17, 2025, a conference for the Free Nations of Post-Russia Forum and a book launch for “Free Nations, New States: The End Stage of Russian Colonialism,” edited by late-Jamestown Senior Fellow Janusz Bugajski, was held in a conference hall of the Riigikogu. Participants included members of the Estonian Parliament and representatives of liberation movements (Postime, September 17, 2025). A week later, the Swedish parliament held meetings with members of the Free Nations of Post-Russia Forum (X/@freenationsrf, September 25, 2025).

In January, a parliamentary group, the Interim Group for Liaison with the Captive Nations of Russia, was established at the Lithuanian Seimas (Tsargrad Institute, January 12). The commission’s first official meeting was held on March 24, to which it invited representatives of regional and nationalist movements. The Don Republican Movement under Alexander Zolotov participated in the March 24 meeting, during which Zolotov raised the topic of recognizing “decossackization” as a genocide, which included the argument that “without this legal assessment, it is impossible to restore the political rights of the Cossacks” (Anti-imperial Block of Nations, March 27). The Don separatists saw this commission as an opportunity to bring the democratic activities of the regions to the attention of European experts (Telegram/@rashka_delenda, March 23). Kremlin fears of territorial fragmentation and the deterrent effect of violence were some of the many reasons why Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Those very attempts at deterrence, and the Kremlin’s aim of exploiting the mystical role of the Cossacks in Russian history to promote its war effort, may have increased the likelihood of territorial fragmentation as these movements grow.

Professor Richard Arnold teaches at Muskingum University and is a member of the PONARS network.

This article appeared originally at The Jamestown Foundation's Eurasia Daily Monitor.