who were the cossacks of the russian domain
Cossacks Cossacks (Ukrainian: козаки́, kozaky, Russian: казаки́, translit. kazaki, Belarusian: казакi, Polish: kozacy, Czecho-Slovak: kozáci, Hungarian: kozákok[nb 1]) were a group of predominantly East Slavic-speaking people who became known as members of democratic, self-governing, semi-military communities, predominantly located in Southern Russia and in South-Eastern Ukraine.[1] They inhabited sparsely populated areas and islands in the lower Dnieper,[2] Don, Terek and Ural river basins and played an important role in the historical and cultural development of both Ukraine and Russia.[3][4]
United Russia United Russia's predecessor was the Unity bloc, which was created three months before the December 1999 Duma elections to counter the advance of the Fatherland – All Russia (OVR) party led by Yuri Luzhkov. The creation of the party was heavily supported by Kremlin insiders, who were wary of what looked like a certain OVR victory. They did not expect Unity to have much chance of success since President Boris Yeltsin was very unpopular and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's ratings were still minuscule. The new party attempted to mimic OVR's formula of success, placing an emphasis on competence and pragmatism. Charismatic Minister of Emergency Situations Sergei Shoigu was appointed as the party leader.[25]