Hundreds of wolves
Hundreds of Wolves ( Russian Волчья сотня ) is the name of a paramilitary organization in Russia .
The organization, whose history goes back to the tsarist times at the beginning of the 20th century , can be recognized by the emblem of a growling wolf. According to their own statements, they orient themselves towards the ideals of their Cossack brotherhood . The name Cossack comes from the Tatar word "Kazak", which means "free warrior". The organization goes back to the Russian Cossack general Andrei Grigoryevich Shkuro .
Their leader was Yevgeny Ponomarjow (1975-2014), better known under the name "Batja" or father . The hundreds of wolves are currently making an isolated appearance again in the 2014 Ukraine crisis .
history
Even before the Russian October Revolution had the Russian colonel Andrei Shkuro, an ethnic Cossack, one in 1915 Cavalry - Regiment established from which the Kuban Cossack Brigade of the White Army emerged - named after the Kuban region in the North Caucasus . During the First World War , his troops are said to have attracted particular attention due to their brutality , which has not been historically proven. Their area of operation in World War I was mainly in the south of Russia, in today's Ukraine , Belarus and Moldova . The wolf symbol also comes from that time. The fighters of the Kuban Brigade carried flags depicting a wolf's head against a black background and hats made of wolf skin. Their battle cry resembled the howl of a wolf - distinctive marks that earned them the unofficial name "Hundred of Wolves".
When the Red Army later took control, Shkuro was forced to flee to Europe with other officers of the Tsar , where he fought alongside the Germans in World War II . Schkuro then received the rank of Lieutenant General of the Waffen SS and presided over about 2000 men who fought on the side of the Germans in Yugoslavia . After the war, the British captured Shkuro and transferred him to Moscow , where he was tried for "acts of terrorism against the USSR " and other crimes. His death sentence by hanging was carried out in January 1947 in the Soviet capital. In the decades that followed, his people were hunted down by the Soviet rulers - until Vladimir Putin rehabilitated them by decree in 2005 and reassigned them to the civil service for border security.
Ukraine crisis 2014
In March 2014, the US reported Magazine Time that in the armed struggle as part of the crisis in Ukraine Thousands of Cossacks would participate on the part of pro-Russian separatists, including in the region of Slavyansk Alexander Moschaew with a "hundred of the Wolves" designated group.
Individual evidence
- ^ Cossacks are riding again , Deutsche Welle, August 2, 2005
- ↑ a b Russia's mysterious “Hundreds of Wolves” , Tages-Anzeiger Online from May 13, 2014
- ↑ VICE News : Russian Roulette: The Invasion of Ukraine , published April 27, 2014
- ↑ Meet the Cossack 'Wolves' Doing Russia's Dirty Work in Ukraine , Time Online, May 12, 2014; the German translation on http://euromaidanpress.com/2014/05/14/die-kosaken-wolfe-sie-erledigen-die-schmutzige-arbeit-fur-russland-in-der-ukraine/
- ^ Cossacks back in service with the state , RIA Novosti, July 1, 2005
- ↑ Exclusive: Meet the Pro-Russian Separatists of Eastern Ukraine. In: Time. April 23, 2014, accessed September 5, 2014 .