Cossack organizations have played a key role in the Russian hybrid war against Ukraine, especially in the Russia-occupied territories of Luhansk and Donetsk regions, where they actively participated in military operations, propaganda and repression, but they may get out of the control of the Russian leadership, according to the analytical report "Russia’s paramilitary formations. Cossack organizations" by the Eastern Human Rights Group and the Institute for Strategic Studies and Security.

"Their activities were coordinated with the Russian authorities and used as a means of foreign policy pressure. Despite their initial influence, the Cossack formations were later partially neutralized or integrated into controlled structures. This confirms the fact that the Kremlin may lose control over its paramilitary organizations at a certain stage," the text of the report, presented at a press conference at the Interfax-Ukraine agency on Wednesday, says.

The document notes that the Russian Cossack organizations have been an important tool of the dictatorial regime since the 1990s, and through close cooperation with the Russian Orthodox Church, they have performed an ideological function, promoting the spread of radical nationalism.

"Cossack educational programs in the occupied territories are a tool for militarization and ideological processing of youth, aimed at integration into Russian society and military structures ... Despite the resistance of part of the population to the forced introduction of these programs, the Kremlin eliminates them by creating generations loyal to Russian ideological values," the authors of the report note.

Before the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, there were 11 military Cossack societies operating on the territory of the Russian Federation, which were part of the All-Russian Cossack Society, and in September 2022 their number increased to 14.

In August 2022, 5,500 Cossacks took part in the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, and by October 2024 their number increased to 18,500. In total, since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, 42,000 representatives of Cossack formations have taken part in the aggression.

"Their activities, subordination, functions, and methods of influence characterize Cossack formations as terrorist organizations that can operate both in the world and in Russia. However, their activities are coordinated by Russian authorities with limited access to information about the registers of Cossack associations," the report notes.