User blog comment:Inept Wiki User/Cosmos in the Lostbelt: Post-Prologue, Pre-Anastasia Information & Speculation/@comment-4802891-20180327155958/@comment-34352073-20180327162342

I was thinking along the same lines. Maybe since this is a Lostbelt and therefore pretty far out as far as history/reality goes, the people might have turned or been turned into wolves as an adaptation to the cold? That theory wouldn't explain the clothes, though (unless it was that cold).

It did occur to me that the wolves might be Oprichniki, since they were sometimes referred to as the "Tsar's Dogs".

As for the wolf with the cap, it could be Ivan (and I at least agree that Ivan has something to do with the wolves), but it doesn't really look regal enough. Ivan was the first to really call himself Tsar, so I'd think he'd be too pompous to dress so plainly. What with Oprichiki's nickname and the fact that Ivan was described as leading them, though...