Russia is registering pro-Russian Cossack organizations in occupied Ukraine to facilitate the integration of occupied territories into the Russian administrative and military spheres.
Russia officially established the Southwestern Directorate for the Federal Agency for Ethnic Affairs (FADN) in August 2023 to oversee nationality and ethnic policy in occupied Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia, and Kherson region.
Part of the directorate’s mandate includes organizing and maintaining relationships with Cossack societies in occupied Ukraine. Acting Head of the Southwestern Directorate Sergei Mildzikhov noted in an interview in April 2025 that Russia has developed a legal mechanism for the formation of Cossack societies in occupied Ukraine and has registered 10 Cossack societies in occupied Luhansk region, eight in occupied Donetsk region, eight in occupied Kherson region, and three in occupied Zaporizhia region.
Cossack organizations serve civil society functions in Russia, and their implementation in occupied Ukraine allows the Russian state oversight and control over how civil society develops and proliferates in occupied areas.
Russian occupation officials also notably use Cossack societies to indoctrinate and militarize residents of occupied Ukraine.
Cossack combat units are active across the frontline in Ukraine and are recruiting residents in occupied Ukraine for service in various Cossack formations.
Representatives of Cossack societies also teach schoolchildren pro-Russian military-patriotic ideals and provide military training courses for youth to prepare them for future service in Cossack formations and the Russian military.
ISW previously reported on Russian efforts to establish branches of the All-Russian Cossack Society throughout occupied Ukraine, and assessed that Cossack societies in part are intended to increase Russia’s mobilization reserve, while also disseminating pro-Russian military-patriotic ideals in occupied communities with active Cossack organizations.
