Putin Is Using Security At The World Cup For Self-Promotion
Posted
July 13, 2018
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July 13, 2018
46,484
444
213
1.41%
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3:49Now PlayingRussia's historic ethnic militia — the Cossacks — patrol the World Cup, forming a small but curious part of one of the biggest national security operations ever undertaken for a sports event.
The morality vigilantes are playing an increasingly prominent role in Putin's conservative Russia; using their orthodox stance to justify whipping protesters at public demonstrations - and are now being linked to combat in Syria and Ukraine.
But during the World Cup Cossacks have carefully cultivated the games as an exhibition of their culture.
The World Cup and its massive security operation will cost about 15 billion dollars in an economy already strained by international sanctions. But with more than 2 million fans visiting, and an estimated 3 billion watching on TV, it’s a once-in-a-generation chance at Russian self-promotion, something Putin and the Cossack both seem to realize.
VICE News joined the Cossacks on patrol before a World Cup game to see what their continued role in Russian public life says about President Putin’s Russia.
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