Kozak Silach 3D print model

The Cossacks,[a] a group of predominantly East Slavic-speaking Orthodox Christian people, who became known as members of democratic, self-governing, semi-military communities, originating in the Pontic steppe (north of the Black Sea).[1] They inhabited sparsely-populated areas and islands in the lower Dnieper,[2][date missing] Don, Terek and Ural river basins and played an important role in the historical and cultural development both of Ukraine and of Russia.[3][4]

After World War II the Soviet Union disbanded the Cossack units in the Soviet Army. During the Perestroika era in the Soviet Union in the late 1980s, descendants of Cossacks moved to revive their national traditions. In 1988 the Soviet Union passed a law allowing the re-establishment of former Cossack hosts and the formation of new ones. During the 1990s many regional authorities agreed to hand over to these Cossack hosts some local administrative and policing duties.

In the 2002 Russian Census, 140,028 people claimed Cossack ethnicity, with 67,573 people identifying as ethnic Cossack in the Russian Census of 2010. Between 3.5 and 5 million people associate themselves with the Cossack identity in Europe and across the world;[citation needed] Cossack organizations operate in Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Belarus, and the United States.