About the Siberian Cossacks’ place in XVII century Russia's social structure (to Yu. G. Nedbay's conception)

The article is devoted to discussing the question of «pribornye» military forces’ social character. In XVII century Russia «pribornye» servicemen formed a significant part of the population. In Siberia they’ve been presented by Cossacks, Strelets and Pushkars. The author analyzes well-known historians’ points of view, dedicated to the place of Siberian «pribornye» servicemen (unified under the termin «Cossacks») in Russian society. The main interest is aimed at the original idea of late Omsk historian Yu. G. Nedbay. In his opinion, the Cossacks has never fit in Russian state’s class structure, being not a class, but «Russian history’s phenomenon». The author defends traditional position, describing city Cossacks and other categories of «pribornye» servicemen as a part of the whole military class. This class appeared to be constituent in Russian society and took up some interim position between the ruling class and lower people.