The nagaika was made out of leather strips by
braiding. It was possible to have a piece of metal at the tip of the whip. A short loop is attached to the handle so that the nagayka would hang from the arm when the grip is released or lost. The main purpose of a nagaika was to urge a horse to move forward or to gallop. A metal piece was traditionally used as a defense against
wolves. According to
Vladimir Dahl's "
Explanatory Dictionary of the Live Great Russian language", this nagayka was called
volkoboy (волкобой, "wolf-slayer"). In modern times the descriptions of the military use of nagaika tend to be mythologized. As in the past, the prime and predominant use was to control or drive a horse. At the same time the nagaika was known to be used against unarmed people, e.g. for
corporal punishment or to disperse public disorders (e.g., during
Russian Revolutions), so that a mounted cossack using a nagayka against worker or student demonstrators become a symbol of tsarist oppression. In 2005 the
Cossacks were reformed and armed with nagaikas in addition to other traditional weapons. In 2014, members of
Pussy Riot were attacked by Cossacks wielding nagaikas and
pepper spray while protesting. ==Russian Imperial Army nagaika==