Crossword Genius

Greek island dispenses with old Russian people (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

cossacks

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'old russian people' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I can't tell whether this works.

'greek island dispenses' is the wordplay.
'greek island' becomes 'cos' (I've seen this before).
'dispenses' becomes 'sacks' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'cos'+'sacks'='COSSACKS'

'with' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for cossacks that I've seen before include "Members of an elite cavalry corps in tsarist Russia" , "Famous horsemen of S Russia" , "Russian peasants?" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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