EN
The results of magnetic measurements performed on geometrically frustrated Ni_3V_2O_8 and Ni_{3(1-x)}Co_{3x}V_2O_8 single crystals with x=0.03 are presented. It was found that Co doping did not change considerably the magnetic H-T phase diagram. Although no spin-glass effects were observed, nevertheless, a strong effect of 3 at% cobalt doping was evidenced. The main effect of Co-doping concerns the direction of the antiferromagnetic vector, which for Ni_3V_2O_8 appears along the $a$ axis, while for only slightly Co doped crystals - along the $c$ axis. This switching of direction results from distinct changes of the magnetocrystalline anisotropy due to the presence of Co^{2+} ions strongly coupled to the kagome lattice. The disorder introduced by doping has practically no effect on the magnitude of the isotropic exchange interactions. At the same time the doping suppresses the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya exchange interactions due to the change of direction of the antiferromagnetic vector.