A Modern Cossack in Revolutionary Clothing

Vladimir Alexandrovich Yakovenko is deputy ataman of the Eastern Cossack District, head of the legal department of the Eastern District, and a military elder. He is also a member of the Rostov Regional Collegium of Lawyers.

Russian Life: Vladimir Alexandrovich, why did you become a Cossack?

Vladimir Yakovenko: My blood speaks very strongly to me. I consider myself 100 percent Cossack.

RL: Are you a hereditary Cossack?

VY: My mother was a Cossack. But, since there were no Cossacks in the postwar period on the Don, they married whomever came along. Including Ukrainians, who have always been in plentiful supply in Rostov region and amongst the Don Host. And so, on my mother’s side, I am a Cossack; but on my father’s side I am Ukrainian, and thus have a Ukrainian surname. My mother’s father was a priest. In 1929, he was persecuted as a kulak, then repressed, and in 1937 shot for counterrevolutionary propaganda (I recently took up this issue and saw to it he was rehabilitated). My other grandfather took part in the First World War. In the Civil War, like Grigory Melikhov (hero of Mikhail Sholokhov’s novel, Quiet Flows the Don), he fought with the Whites. During the Second World War, he was already rather old, but he still went off to fight, battling as far as the borders of Russia, and then was demobilized. Older men where the first ones discharged.

Religious holidays have always been celebrated in our family, as have our traditions and customs. We sang songs, told fairy tales and legends, anecdotes – that’s how it was, even though the Powers that Be suppressed and forbade such things.

RL: How has your career progressed?

VY: I graduated from the legal faculty of Rostov State University 30 years ago. I worked in investigative organs, in the Prosecutor’s Office, as a legal consultant, then was selected as a judge. I worked as a judge in Volgodonsk for 10 years, but I did not get along with the city’s communist leaders. All of these gorkoms and gorispolkoms [city party committees] were constantly interfering in legal business. At first, I was obedient. But later, as I became older and wiser (I became a judge at 30), I began to resist, and they fired me. After that, I worked in a radio factory as head of the legal department. At the start of perestroika, I joined a legal cooperative that later collapsed. I joined the bar and for the past 10 years have been a member of the Rostov Lawyer’s Collegium. Well, and since 1991, of course, I have been part of the Cossack movement in the capacity of a lawyer. We were there at the beginning with the atamans; we created the Eastern District out of isolated lands, drafted a charter, taught Cossack traditions and customs, helped in the organization of krugs, where they elected atamans, members of the directorate and the council of elders. All legal documents went through me.

RL: Aside from documents, what else do you do?

VY: For example, we took part in bringing order to the village of Tyulpanov, in 1993. Chechens were terrorizing Russians there. The Chechens were making threats, killing people. They wanted to assert their authority. The local population turned to us for assistance. A meeting was held in the village and the prosecutor, militia and head of the region were all there. The locals openly spoke for the removal of the Chechens. Within two weeks, we had moved them out.

Later, there were other instances where we went to villages and stanitsy to support the Russian-speaking population. Threats were made to file a criminal case against us for inflaming national discord, but nothing was done.

RL: How exactly did you go about “moving out the Chechens”? Did you use force of arms?

VY: No force was used. We went to their homes and explained things in moral terms. They themselves understood that they were in the minority, and they left. Police officers were present and made sure that public order was observed.

RL: But in theory you could have used arms?

VY: No, we could not. Only when we are serving in the ranks of the Russian Army. 

RL: But your sword is real, no? You could kill or injure someone with that?

VY: It is an element of parade dress, but it is an authentic cavalry sword, produced in 1934.

RL: Vladimir Alexandrovich, you have many awards. Tell us about them, if you will.

VY: Since I was an active duty Cossack, the host awarded me with honors and medals: “For Rebirth of Cossackdom,” “For Devotion to Duty,” “For Participation in the Re-Interment of the Remains of Ataman Platov.” There is also the pre-revolutionary breast medallion of the Great Don Host, the “Decade of the Rebirth of Cossackdom,” “For participation in actions in the Northern Caucasus.”

RL: Tell us about your work in the Northern Caucasus.

VY: I cannot speak of that. I do not want to, and I will not. Here is a medal “For Service” to the Volga Cossack host, “200th Anniversary of Novocherkassk,” ... an order of the third degree, “For Faith, the Don and the Fatherland,” an order of the second degree, “For Faith, the Don and the Fatherland,” .... separate awards “For participation in the parade of Cossack troops in honor of the 50th anniversary of Stalingrad’s liberation (which we called the march on Tsaritsyn).

RL: You have a very old uniform.

VY: Yes, a 1917 pattern.

RL: And how do people on the street react to how you look?

VY: We have a diverse population. There is a Cossack population, there is a non-Cossack population; there are Koreans, Caucasians, Meskhetian Turks – no matter what you wear, they won’t like it.

RL: You mean to say that the national minorities don’t like your uniform, but that Russians accept it as normal?

VY: No, not all Russians. For instance, in Volgodonsk we have a rather motley population: just 10 percent are natives; the rest have come in from the hinterland. Therefore, even the Russian population does not properly understand everything; they do not understand that we have a right to wear distinguishing medals. We also have a camouflage field uniform (our druzhinniki patrol the city in camouflage). We go to work in everyday clothing.

RL: In general, how has your family and colleagues reacted to your entering the ranks of Cossacks?

VY: My mother was happy, but she was afraid for me – fear flowed in her blood. The others reacted each in their own way. Some negatively: they have no conception of the Motherland, of nations living on their land. They have been brainwashed by so much Soviet ideology, that they have turned into “Ivans Who Forgot Where He Was Born.”

RL: Vladimir Alexandrovich, how, in your opinion, do modern Cossacks differ from those of 1920?

VY: Only in their level of education, and nothing else. The level of education has risen. Customs, traditions, all of this should be preserved, and we are striving to preserve it.