Justice
Here Come the Cossacks
Russia's unarmed, heavily costumed guards may look intimidating, but their actual power is pretty limited.
In preparation for the Winter Olympics (on heightened alert after a string of bombings in Volgograd), 40,000 Russian troops and police have been deployed to Sochi to protect the region. Among the most notable are the hundreds of unarmed Cossacks on patrol.
Cossacks, native to parts of southern Russia and Eastern Europe, once served as paramilitary squads for Russian czars. They faced persecution under Soviet rule and largely disappeared from Russian culture during the 20th century.