Because of corruption in Stavropol Territory, Tersk Cossacks threaten to give up Russian citizenship

The Cossacks of the Tersk Army are indignant with the corruption in the Stavropol Territory and the course of investigation of the murder of Ataman Andrei Khanin, 34. One of these days, the Cossacks have addressed for help to Director of the FSB of the Russian Federation Nikolai Patrushev.

"The Low-Kuban Cossack Division of the Tersk Cossack Army comprises the non-indifferent part of the population from 43 villages and farm yards, including the city of Novoaleksandrovsk," runs the letter addressed to Nikolai Patrushev. "The current circumstances compel us to quit the State Registry and refuse from Russian citizenship."

Mikhail Serkov, Ataman of the Stavropol Command of the Army, said that the Cossacks are ready to make this step, which is confirmed by signatures of more than a hundred persons under the letter.

The "Caucasian Knot" has already informed that Cornet Andrei Khanin, Ataman of the Low-Kuban Cossack Division of the Stavropol Cossack District of the Tersk Cossack Army, was shot dead at night of February 14, 2007. The death of the Cossack has shocked not only the Stavropol Territory, but also the whole public. Residents of Novoaleksandrovsk went out to hold a rally, where they demanded from the governor of the Territory Alexander Chernogorov to dismiss the head of the District Nikolai Gerasimov, to inspect the activities of the district administration and a complex sanitary, veterinary and ecological examination of local enterprises.

It is known that the perished Ataman Andrei Khanin was engaged in environmental problems of Novoaleksandrovsk and tried to draw the attention of the public to the problem of recycling wastes of the local meat-packing plant.