Serdiuki

cossacks in mercenary infantry regiments formed in the 1670’s in the Left-bank Ukraine. The serdiuk i were paid from the hetman’s treasury and guarded the hetman’s residence, military storehouses, and the host’s artillery. As the anti-feudal movement grew, they were used increasingly to suppress popular uprisings, which earned them the hostility of the peasants and cossacks. The tsarist government disbanded the serdiuki in 1726 in accord with its policy of limiting the hetman’s authority.