Take the report with a grain of salt but…

Guardian

Under Russia law, Cossacks - the descendants of runaway serfs and outlaws who in the past were employed to protect the country’s southern border - are allowed to carry arms and carry out policing functions in cooperation with interior ministry forces.

At the headquarters of the Terek Cossacks in Vladikavkaz yesterday a group of men sat under portraits of fierce looking warriors with drooping moustaches watching television coverage of Georgian artillery shelling Tskhinvali. One man said there would be a meeting today to discuss forming volunteer units.

In Volgograd the leader of the Don Cossacks, Viktor Vodolatsky, called on all Cossacks under 40 to volunteer. Reports said 100 men from the region had already left for Tskhinvali. “We must help our South Ossetian brothers,” he said.

Irregular troops from the north Caucasus played an important role in the conflicts that saw both Georgia’s breakaway regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, secede in the early 1990s.

In Abkhazia, Cossack and Chechen units fought side by side against Georgian troops, despite being historical enemies. Abkhazia has promised to help South Ossetia in its conflict with Georgia.