In January 1943, Alfred Rosenberg appointed Krasnov to head the Cossack Central Office of the "Ostministrium", making him the point man for the "Ostministrium" in its dealings with the Cossacks. The previous head of the Cossack Central Office, Nikolaus Himpel, who like Rosenberg was a Baltic German who spoke fluent Russian, had failed to inspire many Cossacks to join the German war effort. Just as was the case with Rosenberg, Himpel was fluent in Russian, but spoke it with a pronounced German accent, making him a figure of distrust to the Cossacks. Rosenberg realized that he needed a leader who was a Cossack himself to inspire more recruitment and turned to Krasnov after it was discovered that his first choice, the Prague-based Cossack separatist leader Vasily Glazkov had no following. Through Krasnov was aged and had to walk with a cane, he was known for his political skills and through "not universally popular", was relatively well respected amongst the Cossacks as a former "ataman" of the Don Cossack Host and as a popular novelist. He managed to avoid for the most part the feuds that characterized the Russian diaspora, making him an acceptable leader. He agreed to organise and head Cossack units out of White emigres and Soviet (mostly Cossack) prisoners of war, to be armed by the Nazis. The Nazis, in turn, expected Krasnov to follow their political line and keep to a separatist Cossack orientation. Krasnov who considered himself a Russian first and a Cossack second was not in sympathy with Roseberg's notion of establishing a Nazi puppet state to be called "Cossackia" in southeastern Russia.