Nikolai Likhodeyenko, exclusively for Vestnik Kavkaza
On April 25th the organizational meeting of the Terek Cossack Army will take place. The Cossacks will elect their ataman. The presidential envoy to the North Caucasus, Sergei Melikov, recommends the Terek Cossacks to define their basic territory, which should be Stavropol Territory, following the example of the Kuban and Don Cossacks. Melikov preferred to distance himself from any participation in the process of preparations for the elections, as it was the business of the Cossacks only, according to him. “The main thing is that a nominee to the ataman position shouldn’t be involved in any structure, shouldn’t have a criminal past, shouldn’t promote nationalism or other radical ideas,” Melikov thinks. However, election intensities between Cossacks who support different models of development of the TCVO and different atamans have stepped beyond a civilized discussion and have turned into radical forms on the internet. Reasonable Cossacks urge their brothers to stop fighting and stop supporting those who try to destabilize the TCVO. Vestnik Kavkaza publishes a view by an independent expert, Nikolai Likhodeyenko, about the situation.
On April 25th the organizational meeting of the Terek Cossack Army will take place. Ahead of the event, several Cossack activists decided to gain some political bonuses for the last time.
Frankly speaking, when I see constant attempts by some fake Cossacks to show themselves in a good light and demonstrate their exclusiveness for the Army, I just want to stop being polite and start calling these people obscene words. However, it would be disgraceful to do this in the Year of Literature and in Easter week. So, I am going to use only literary phrases and allegories in the article. Let’s start with classics.
Much Ado about Nothing by William Shakespeare
One reason for another attempt to stir up the situation in the Cossack environment was a session of atamans of some regional and city communities of Stavropol Territory, which took place a day before Easter in the apparatus of the plenipotentiary envoy of the Russian President to the NCFD. It was a working meeting and the upcoming army elections were discussed. The deputy envoy Mikhail Vedernikov informed those who were present that the Presidential Council for Cossack Affairs had finally chosen a nominee for the position of the ataman of the TKVO. It was the Cossack Colonel Alexander Zhuravsky. At the moment he is the deputy head of the Committee for Ethnic Affairs and Cossacks of Stavropol Territory.
Everything which was said by Vedernikov at the session was focused on two moments.
First of all, a difficult situation has occurred in the Army. In the context of the international situation, many foreign analysts consider the Cossacks in the Caucasus to be a platform for destabilization of the socio-political situation in the region. The time of conflicts and intrigues in the Terek Army should be over. The Terek Cossacks need consolidation as never before. Everybody should forget about their ambitions and work in favor of the country and the Cossacks together.
Secondly, due to the initiative by the envoy Sergei Melikov, which had been approved by the Cossacks, the Stavropol Territory should become the basic region of the Terek Cossacks. It was suggested to vote for a model which would combine the positions of the ataman of the Stavropol District Army and the ataman of the Terek Army.
I remind you that elections of the district ataman will take place in Stavropol this Saturday. Alexander Zhuravsky is also nominated to the position. The suggested construction of combining the positions was approved by absolutely all interested state structures from Stavropol Territory to the presidential administration. Atamans of Stavropol Territory also supported the idea at a session which was conducted by Melikov in last October. It is operating in the neighboring Kuban and Don Cossack communities.
The suggested model is required due to routine circumstances. During all the years of existence of the reconstructed Terek Army, it has had no budget. And still it has no budget. It has no office (even the office in Vladikavkaz, the headquarters, doesn’t belong to the TKVO). What can a structure which has no resources do? Nothing.
That is all that had been discussed at the mentioned session. However, some people found it too boring, and a sensation occurred! One unknown website (I don’t want to mention its name to prevent an increase of its traffic) published an article that the permanent mission suspected that the Terek Cossacks had contacts with the American State Department. The author stated that Vedernikov said: “All attempts by the Cossacks to present their own nominees will be considered as activities of the American State Department…”
Thus, a routine session with the Cossacks (there are a lot of such sessions held in the permanent mission) should be the key event in the information agenda of the week, according to the author. Of course it wasn’t that, as the Cossacks didn’t believe in such nonsense. And the Stavropol scandal-mongers decided to attract ‘dark forces’ to the event.
Demons by Fyodor DostoyevskyThe published text of the scandalous article was reposted by several Cossacks on their social network pages. These people tried to promote Mikhail Seredenko, the head of the regional office of the Rodina Party, to the position of ataman, bypassing official procedures. He used to be involved in governing the Army, being the deputy of the unforgettable ataman Klimenko. It is interesting that the Cossack community which supports a nominee from the socialist patriotic party, despite any Cossack common sense, is called “Krasnogvardeyskoe.” Of course, there is no need to change the name of the residential area, but it is strange to call their organizations in honor of soldiers of the Red Army, who contributed a lot to fighting the Cossacks.In two days the main interested person has been revealed – Mikhail Seredenko, who spread his manifesto on social networks, demanding apologies from the deputy envoy due to accusations of contacts with the US State Department. And the situation turned into an absurd comedy: they created the fake story, promoted it, took offence, and decided to demand apologies. The stupid character of the situation causes laughter and tears, as people who are involved in such farces call themselves Cossacks.Thus, it is a poor attempt to promote themselves at the expense of employees of the presidential administration. It seems Mr. Seredenko uses the well-known principle described by the great Russian writer Ivan Krylov: “Wow, Moska! It seems she is strong, if she is barking at an elephant!”I should explain to readers who don’t know the situation. Seredenko won’t get through to the next stage of the election campaign, as he doesn't have sufficient number of supporters or official approval from the corresponding state structures. However, it seems Mikhail Ivanovich has broader views. In 2016 there will be elections to the District Duma and the State Duma. He intends to try his luck there. Anyway, obviously he needs PR and to build relations with the ‘popular’ mass media. It could be his last chance.In other words, Mr. Seredenko sees the crisis in the Army as a platform for forming his own political resource. And he is not the only one. There used to be a district ataman, Alexander Falko, who tried to be elected to the position of the Army’s head, despite the fact that nobody supported him at all. And his closest friend, Sergei Sereda, the former head of the Territorial Cossack Center, tried to organize a demarche at the ataman elections last year, but gained only 38 votes from his supporters. The ataman of the Stavropol City Cossack Community Alexander Pechnikov blackmailed the territorial authorities, demanding the appointment to the position of the head of the Territorial Cossack Center as the price for supporting Alexander Zhuravsky. However, this is another story… by the same author.
Demons by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The published text of the scandalous article was reposted by several Cossacks on their social network pages. These people tried to promote Mikhail Seredenko, the head of the regional office of the Rodina Party, to the position of ataman, bypassing official procedures. He used to be involved in governing the Army, being the deputy of the unforgettable ataman Klimenko. It is interesting that the Cossack community which supports a nominee from the socialist patriotic party, despite any Cossack common sense, is called “Krasnogvardeyskoe.” Of course, there is no need to change the name of the residential area, but it is strange to call their organizations in honor of soldiers of the Red Army, who contributed a lot to fighting the Cossacks.
In two days the main interested person has been revealed – Mikhail Seredenko, who spread his manifesto on social networks, demanding apologies from the deputy envoy due to accusations of contacts with the US State Department. And the situation turned into an absurd comedy: they created the fake story, promoted it, took offence, and decided to demand apologies. The stupid character of the situation causes laughter and tears, as people who are involved in such farces call themselves Cossacks.
Thus, it is a poor attempt to promote themselves at the expense of employees of the presidential administration. It seems Mr. Seredenko uses the well-known principle described by the great Russian writer Ivan Krylov: “Wow, Moska! It seems she is strong, if she is barking at an elephant!”
I should explain to readers who don’t know the situation. Seredenko won’t get through to the next stage of the election campaign, as he doesn't have sufficient number of supporters or official approval from the corresponding state structures. However, it seems Mikhail Ivanovich has broader views. In 2016 there will be elections to the District Duma and the State Duma. He intends to try his luck there. Anyway, obviously he needs PR and to build relations with the ‘popular’ mass media. It could be his last chance.
In other words, Mr. Seredenko sees the crisis in the Army as a platform for forming his own political resource. And he is not the only one. There used to be a district ataman, Alexander Falko, who tried to be elected to the position of the Army’s head, despite the fact that nobody supported him at all. And his closest friend, Sergei Sereda, the former head of the Territorial Cossack Center, tried to organize a demarche at the ataman elections last year, but gained only 38 votes from his supporters. The ataman of the Stavropol City Cossack Community Alexander Pechnikov blackmailed the territorial authorities, demanding the appointment to the position of the head of the Territorial Cossack Center as the price for supporting Alexander Zhuravsky. However, this is another story… by the same author.
The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
No, Prince Myskin described by the classic writer has nothing in common with Alexander Borisovich Pechnikov. He is kind, caring, honest and only slightly naïve. Maybe only the latter makes the character comparable with the Stavropol ataman, who believed in his political potential and started issuing the government with ultimatums.
Was Alexander Pechnikov caring? Hardly. If he were so, there would have probably been no schism in the urban society, it would not have lost so many normal Cossacks who later joined the parallel registry system ‘Stanitsa Kazanskaya’ headed by the City Ataman, Pronin. It is clear that both sides in the conflict were to blame. No sane person would call Pechnikov either a victim or the cause of the schism.
And how was Mr. Pechnikov’s honesty doing? It is hard to tell. Reading his pre-electoral declaration promoting him for the district ataman’s post, one may find an excerpt stressing that “a Cossack without faith is not a Cossack” and that pagans, Slavic neopagans, sect members and others should be eradicated.
Faith is personal for everyone, of course, but it is surprising to see such advocacy of traditional Orthodox Christianity from a man who was in open conflict with the Metropolitan of Stavropol and Nevinnomyssk, Kirill. He sent a letter to the Patriarch of Moscow and All-Russia, Kirill, demonizing the priest who gave guidance to all Russian Cossacks. He ignores even the simplest norms of correctness when meeting priests, including the need to make the cross gesture during prayers.
Mr. Pechnikov would probably not be called kind either. As witnesses say, after the said talks at the office, the city ataman approached Alexander Zhuravlev in Stavropol and made quite an emotional promise to continue the struggle for personal wellbeing in the Cossackhood.
Or does someone actually believe that Pechnikov, Seredenko, Falko, Sereda and others of that ilk actually want to help the Terek Cossacks by laying claims to the ataman’s mace? Let’s be realists and cast a sober eye on things. Real Cossacks working every day to restore the glory of the Terek Cossacks never show off. Wise people understand that the ataman’s mace is not a magic wand, problems cannot be solved just by waving it. They need to be solved with your own hands, through long and painstaking work, without claims to glory or resorting to cheap populism.
There are very few such Cossacks in the public stratum, unlike disguised bigots. It is obvious, they need to work, not chit-chat. It happened so with Alexander Zhuravsky, who was avoiding public attention before becoming an approved candidate.
Ending the “literary review”, I would like to express hope that, with God’s grace, the turbulence the Terek Forces fell into with the emergence of a new ataman will end. There are all the real preconditions for that. The forces are finally attaining a home, stability, financing and a normal leader. Brother Cossacks, let’s finally show wisdom, stop hassles and encouragement of homebred intriguers. We have had enough of that in the last three years. We need to think about the future and remember about our origins.
And here, I suppose, to conclude the article partly dedicated to Literature Year in the Russian Federation, it would be ad rem to write the following four lines of the March of the Terek Cossacks:
“We are alive, and glory to God!
The time of renaissance has come!
Again, our Doubled-Headed Eagle
Flew to the azure heavens!
