Known to ride black horses and led by Ivan the Terrible himself, the group was known to terrorize civilian populations. Sometimes called the cromeshnina (selected) because they were a hand-picked body, the Oprichniki dressed in black garb, similar to a monastic habit, and carried attached to their saddles a severed dog’s head (to sniff out treason and enemies of the Tsar), or an actual wolf’s head and a broom (to sweep them away). The wolf’s head was also symbolic of the hounds of hell tearing at the heels of the Tsar’s enemies. The logistics of acquiring the canine heads was quite gruesome. Due to the lack of taxidermy, the severed and drained heads would only remain frozen for the winter months of the year. To maintain their image, the Oprichnik required a constant supply of fresh heads. Ivan himself carried a fearsome canine head made of iron with jaws that would open and snap shut as his horse galloped
The Oprichniki were ordered to execute anyone disloyal to Ivan and used various methods of torture to do so, including quartering, death by boiling, impalement, and roasting victims tied to poles over an open fire.