Boris Johnson is made a Cossack as thanks for backing Ukraine

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  1. >PM is also given the name Boris Chuprina, which means ‘Boris Long-Lock-of-Hair’

    >“You can see that he has such a freedom-loving haircut, which underlines his personality and his strong will,” Andriy Lisovy, deputy director of the Chernihiv regional museum, told local media.

  2. For those who were paywalled
    >Boris Johnson has been made an honorary Ukrainian Cossack in recognition of his backing for Kyiv and given a name that pays tribute to his famously unkempt hair.

    >The Cossack community in Chernihiv, northern Ukraine, also gave him the Cossack name Boris Chuprina, which means “Boris Long-Lock-of-Hair”.

    >“You can see that he has such a freedom-loving haircut, which underlines his personality and his strong will,” Andriy Lisovy, deputy director of the Chernihiv regional museum, told local media.

    >He said the decision to make Johnson a Cossack was a “sign of respect and gratitude to this outstanding person who has been supporting Ukraine”.

    >The prime minister was also portrayed as the folklore hero Cossack Mamay in a painting by local artists that showed him playing the kobza, a lute-like musical instrument. The picture is on display at the museum in Chernihiv. A copy of the work and an official Cossack certificate have been sent to Downing Street.

    >Lisovy said the PM’s habit of signing off on Instagram as “Johsonyuk” — a Ukrainian version of his surname — had provided inspiration. “It wasn’t our idea. He gave us a hint of what to do.”

    >While Johnson may have fallen out of favour with dozens of his own MPs, in Ukraine he is wildly popular. He was the first leader of a G7 member state to visit Kyiv after Russia’s invasion, meeting President Zelensky in April. A street in southern Ukraine and an embankment near the Ukrainian capital have been renamed in his honour.

    >Zelensky said that he was “very happy” that Johnson had survived Monday’s vote of confidence. “Boris Johnson is a true friend of Ukraine,” he said. “I’m glad we have not lost a very important ally.”

    >Ukraine’s modern-day Cossacks are descended from the semi-nomadic people who roamed the region in the tsarist period. The word Cossacks means “free man” or “adventurer”. A famous 19th-century paining by Ilya Repin, a Ukrainian-born artist, depicts Ukrainian Cossacks writing an obscenity-strewn letter to the Ottoman sultan after defeating his forces. A group of Ukrainian soldiers recently recreated the image, substituting President Putin for the sultan.

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