Red Square in the context of "Moscow Kremlin"

The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic, Eastern Christian people, originating from the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. Cossacks played an important role in defending the southern borders of Ukraine and Russia, countering the Crimean-Nogai raids, alongside economically developing steppe regions north of the Black Sea and around the Azov Sea. Historically, they were a semi-nomadic and semi-militarized people, who were allowed a great degree of self-governance in exchange for military service under the nominal suzerainty of various Eastern European states. Although numerous ethnic, linguistic and religious groups came together to form the Cossacks, most of them gradually coalesced and Slavicized, thereby adopting East Slavic culture, East Slavic languages and Eastern Orthodox Christianity.

The rulers of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Russian Empire endowed Cossacks with certain special privileges in return for the military duty to serve in the irregular troops: Zaporozhian Cossacks were mostly infantry soldiers, using war wagons, while Don Cossacks were mostly cavalry soldiers. The various Cossack groups were organized along military lines, with large autonomous groups called hosts. Each host had a territory consisting of affiliated villages called stanitsas.

Avvakum Petrov (Russian: Аввакум Петров; 20 November 1620/1621 – 14 April 1682; also spelled Awakum) was a Russian Old Believer and protopope of the Kazan Cathedral on Red Square who led the opposition to Patriarch Nikon's reforms of the Russian Orthodox Church. His autobiography and letters to the tsar and other Old Believers such as Feodosia Morozova are considered masterpieces of 17th-century Russian literature.

Russian culture (Russian: Культура России, romanized: Kul'tura Rossii, IPA: [kʊlʲˈturə rɐˈsʲiɪ]) has been formed by the nation's history, its geographical location and its vast expanse, religious and social traditions, and both Eastern and Western influence. Cultural scientists believe that the influence of the East was fairly insignificant, since the Mongols did not coexist with the Russians during conquest, and the indigenous peoples were subjected to reverse cultural assimilation. Unlike the Scandinavian and more western neighbors, which have become the main reason for the formation of modern culture among Russians. Russian writers and philosophers have played an important role in the development of European thought. The Russians have also greatly influenced classical music, ballet, theatre, painting, cinema and sport, The nation has also made pioneering contributions to science and technology and space exploration.

Kazan Cathedral (Russian: Казанский собор, romanized: Kazanskiy sobor), formally known as the "Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan", is a Russian Orthodox church located on the northwest corner of Red Square in Moscow, Russia. The current building is a reconstruction of the original church, which was destroyed on the orders of Joseph Stalin in 1936.

The oath of enlistment is a military oath made by members of the United States Armed Forces who enlist.

The Cathedral of Vasily the Blessed (Russian: Собор Василия Блаженного, romanized: Sobor Vasiliya Blazhennogo), known in English as Saint Basil's Cathedral, is an Orthodox church in Red Square of Moscow, and is one of the most popular cultural symbols of Russia. The building, now a museum, is officially known as the Cathedral of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos on the Moat, or Pokrovsky Cathedral. It was built from 1555 to 1561 on orders from Ivan the Terrible and commemorates the capture of Kazan and Astrakhan. It was completed, with its colours, in 1683.

The original building, known as Trinity Church and later Trinity Cathedral, contained eight chapels arranged around a ninth, central chapel dedicated to the Intercession; a tenth chapel was erected in 1588 over the grave of the venerated local saint Vasily (Basil). In the 16th and 17th centuries, it was perceived as the earthly symbol of the Heavenly City. Like all churches in Byzantine Christianity, the church was popularly known as the "Jerusalem" and served as an allegory of the Jerusalem Temple in the annual Palm Sunday parade attended by the Patriarch of Moscow and the Tsar.