Over the past two weeks, the Russian government has dispatched more than 124,000 Interior Ministry troops across the country in an attempt to prevent or react to possible protests during regional elections . Among the forces deployed are more than 3,000 volunteer Russian Cossacks. This is not the first time the brazenly independent Russian Cossack brigades have made their presence known in recent years. The Kremlin used various Cossack forces for security in the Volga region and during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi . Cossack security units have also surfaced in Syria and Ukraine , though not entirely under Kremlin control. The Russian government's use of the Cossacks stems from the Kremlin's long tradition of honoring their usefulness as a military force in the borderlands, though Moscow's ability to keep the Cossacks in check has been frequently tested.