# What were those things that Russians wore on their coats?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-those-things-that-russians-wore-on-their-coats/342420>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 31, 2006, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-those-things-that-russians-wore-on-their-coats/342420 "2006-01-31T22:32:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2006, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-those-things-that-russians-wore-on-their-coats/342420/1 "2006-01-31T22:32:41Z")

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I often see old photographs of Russians or Central Eurasian men where they are wearing coats with these big pockets in front, and sticking out of the pockets are these long things arranged in a row. What the hell are those? I’ve provided a few pictures:

[Cossacks](http://www.library.ups.edu/instruct/ricig/uniform.jpg)

[A Cossack tribe](http://www.alexanderpalace.org/thompson/images/15cossacks.jpg)

[Jewish villagers from the Caucasus](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/ed/Mountain_jewish_men.jpg)

What the hell are these things?

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**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2006, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-those-things-that-russians-wore-on-their-coats/342420/2 "2006-01-31T22:36:43Z")

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They look like ammo belts to me. (And, yes, I’m pretty sure you DON’T mean the criss-cross, you mean the horizontals. Still look like bullets tucked into fabric loops.