11:12, 11 March 2008

In Stavropol Territory, Ataman who blamed corruption dismissed

Cossacks of the Stavropol Regional Cossack Society held their extraordinary round (meeting) and dismissed Ataman Mikhail Serkov who had appealed to give up Russian citizenship in protest against poor investigation of the murder of Ataman Andrei Khanin and corruption in the Stavropol Territory.

"For the actions aimed to split the Stavropol Regional Cossack Society, Cossack Colonel Mikhail Serkov was dismissed from the post of Ataman of the Stavropol Regional Cossack Society of the Tersk Army Cossack Society," the spokesman of the press service of the Territory's Governor has reported with reference to the Committee on the Matters of Nationalities and Cossacks.

The Stavropol Cossacks have elected a new Ataman - Army Elder Alexander Falko.

Also, the Cossacks have condemned the actions of Nikolai Vykhodtsev, Deputy Ataman of the Nizhne-Kuban Cossack Division of the Stavropol Cossack Region. "For the actions aimed to discredit the Stavropol Cossack Region, Nikolai Vykhodtsev was excluded from the members of the Division," the RIA "Novosti" quotes the press service spokesman as saying.