Today’s Cossacks are a far cry from their Czarist-era ancestors, the fierce horsemen with woollen papakha hats, sabres and horsewhips, best known as a buffer force on the borders of the Russian Empire ...

Even before the whipping, the professionalism of the Cossack hosts springing up around Russia was unclear. Russian Cossacks stand guard at the Rosa Khutor Alpine Resort near Sochi. (Reuters/Fabrizio ...

The contrast couldn't have been greater: the protest band Pussy Riot in colorful ski masks and mini dresses, attempting to film a segment for a new video on Sochi's waterfront; and Cossacks in ...