Russian Armed Forces

This order of battle is an attempt to provide an up-to-date picture of the status and disposition of the Russian armed forces. The information used in this order of battle is taken from several sources. I am immensely indebted to Vad777 for his information on the Russian Armed Forces. Vad777's Armed Forces of the USSR, Russia and the Countries of the CIS is the best single resource (albeit in Russian) on the Russian and Soviet era armed forces. Information on the Russian Air Force is also taken from Scramble's Russian Air Arms Order of Battle.

In order to portray a notional wartime posture, I have organized the military districts, groups of forces and fleets along the lines of the "Operational-Strategic Commands" designated in 1998. In wartime, these commands could fulfill similar roles as the former Theaters of Operation (TVD).

For Russian ground forces I have included readiness categories. Category A units are the most combat ready, with manning above 75 percent. These include most of the airborne forces and the separate motorized rifle brigades. Category B units, comprising higher level readiness tank and motor rifle division formations and one airborne division, are above 50 percent strength. Category C units, which represent the majority of forces, are less than 50 percent strength and would normally require months of mobilization time. However, readiness and manning levels may have increased for a number of units over the past several years. For various armament storage bases I have provided equivalent unit formations sizes.

Please e-mail me any questions or comments at Neil Baumgardner.

Copyright © 2005 Neil Baumgardner1

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Last Updated: August 25, 2008
 
 
  • Supreme High Command (VGK) (Moscow)

  • Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) (Moscow)

  • 1 247th 'Cossack' Guards Airborne Regiment formed from 21st 'Cossack' Separate Airborne Brigade in 1998.
    2 331st Guards Airborne Regiment transferred from 106th 'Tula' Guards Airborne Division in 1998.
    3 242nd Training Center transferred from Lithuania in 1993.
    4 6th Combined Arms Army disbanded in 1997/1998. Included as a place holder for a wartime formation.
    5 138th 'Krasnoselsk' Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade formed from the former 45th 'Krasnoselsk' Guards Motor Rifle Division.
    6 200th 'Pechenga' Guards Motorized Rifle brigade formed from the former 131st 'Pechenga' Motor Rifle Division.
    7 6th 'Vitebsk' Guards Motor Rifle Division withdrawn from Poland to the Leningrad and Moscow Military Districts sometime in the early 1990s.
    8 25th 'Sevastopol' Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade/13th 'Sevastopol' Guards Motor Rifle Regiment transferred from the former 54th Regional Training Center (former 24th Training Tank Division) in Latvia.
    9 172nd Separate Helicopter Regiment transferred from Germany.
    10 Formed from the former 11th Guards Combined Arms Army c1997.
    11 Formed from the former 1st 'Moscow-Minsk Proletarian' Guards Motor Rifle Division.
    12 18th 'Insterburg' Guards Motor Rifle Division transferred from Czechoslovakia.
    13 10th 'Uralsk-Lvov' Guards Tank Division transferred from Germany.
    14 Formerly 63rd 'Chelyabinsk-Petrokovskiy' Guards Tank Regiment.
    15 248th 'Unechskiy' Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment redesignated from 48th Motorized Rifle Regiment.
    16 3rd 'Vislenskaya' Guards Motor Rifle Division formed from former 31st 'Vislenskaya' Guards Tank Division and 47th 'Lower Dneprovsk' Guards Tank Division (transferred from Germany).
    17 100th 'Chenstokhovskiy' Tank Regiment, 237th Tank Regiment and 1143rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment formerly with the 31st 'Vislenskaya' Guards Tank Division.
    18  245th 'Gneznenskiy' Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment, 254th 'Matrosova' Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment (redesignated from the 752nd Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment), and 99th 'Pomeranskiy' Guards Self-propelled Artillery Regiment formerly with the 47th 'Lower Dneprovsk' Guards Tank Division, transferred from Germany.
    19 283rd 'Berlin' Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment transferred from former 21st 'Taganrog' Motor Rifle Division in Germany.
    20 237th 'Proskurovskiy' Guards Demonstration of Aviation Equipment Center was formed in 1992 from the 237th 'Proskurovskiy' Guards Composite Aviation Regiment (Demonstration), which was formed in 1989 in the 234th 'Proskurovskiy' Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment.
    21 135th 'Podchineniya' Separate Motorized Rifle Regiment redesignated from former 201st Motorized Rifle Regiment.
    22 42nd Guards Motor Rifle Division formed in 2000 from the former 173rd Guards Regional Training Center.
    23 136th 'Umansko-Berlin' Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade formed from 204th 'Umansko-Berlin' Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment, 94th 'Zvenogorodsko- Berlin' Guards Motor Rifle Division, transferred from Germany?
    24 131st 'Krasnodarskaya' Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade formed from the former 9th 'Krasnodarskaya' Motor Rifle Division.
    25 20th 'Prikarpatsko-Berlinskaya' Guards Motor Rifle Division transferred from Germany.
    26 242nd 'Zaleshchitskiy' Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment redesignated from 42nd Motorized Rifle Regiment.
    27 255th 'Stalingrad-Korsunskiy' Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment redesignated from 252nd 'Stalingrad-Korsunskiy' Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment, transferred from the former 6th 'Vitebsk' Guards Motor Rifle Division in Poland.
    28 56th Guards Landing Assault Regimentt formed from 56th Separate Airborne Brigade in 1998.
    29 33rd 'Berlin-Donskoy' 'Cossack' Separate Motorized Rifle Regiment transferred from the former 207th 'Pomeranskaya' Motor Rifle Division in Germany.
    30 The 12th Military Base (former 145th 'Tamanskaya' Motor Rifle Division) and 62nd Military Base (former 147th Motor Rifle Division) were withdrawn from Georgia in 2007. Much of the equipment was transferred to the 102nd Military Base (former 127th Motor Rifle Division) in Armenia. The 137th Military Base (former 100th Guards Motor Rifle Division) in Georgia was disbanded in the 1990s.
    31 123rd Motorized Rifle Regiment formed from former 164th Motor Rifle Division in Armenia.
    32 27th 'Omsk-Novobugskaya' Guards Motor Rifle Division transferred from Germany.
    33 81st 'Petrokovskiy' Guards Separate Motorized Rifle Regiment transferred from former 90th 'Lvovskiy' Guards Tank Division in Germany.
    34 433rd Motorized Rifle Regiment and 838th Guards Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment transferred from former 213th 'Totskoye' Motor Rifle Division.
    35 295th Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment transferred from former 15th 'Mozyrskaya' Guards Tank Division.
    36 15th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade formed from 589th 'Berlin' Motorized Rifle Regiment, 27th 'Omsk-Novobugskaya' Guards Motor Rifle Division in March 2005. 589th 'Berlin' Motorized Rifle Regiment itself was formed from former 243rd 'Berlin' Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment.
    37 31st Separate Guards Airborne Brigade formed from former 104th Guards Airborne Division (disbanded in 1996), transferred from Azerbaijan.
    38 15th 'Mozyrskaya' Guards Tank Division transferred from Czechoslovakia.
    39 16th 'Umanskaya' Guards Tank Division transferred from Germany.
    40 90th 'Lvovskiy' Guards Tank Division transferred from Germany.
    41 507th Tank Regiment transferred from the former 245th 'Tatsinskaya' Guards Motor Rifle Division. The 5th 'Don-Budapest' Guards Tank Division's former 160th Tank Regiment was transferred to the 245th before it reoganized as the 6th Guards 'Tatsinskaya' Armament Storage Base.
    42 131st 'Lozovskaya' Guards Motor Rifle Division redesignated from 131st 'Lozovskaya' Guards Machine-Gun Artillery Division? - which was formed from 38th 'Lozovskaya' Guards Motor Rifle Division in 1989.
    43 272nd 'Transbaikal Cossack' 'Smolensk' Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment transferred from former 2nd 'Tatsinskaya' Guards Tank Division.
    44 298th 'Viennese-Mukdenskiy' Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment redesignated from 76th Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment, transferred from the 122nd Motor Rifle Division.
    45 83rd Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade formed from former 83rd Separate Airborne Brigade in 1998.
    46 127th 'Roslavl' Machine-Gun Artillery Division formed from former 277th 'Roslavl' Motor Rifle Division in 1989.
    47 130th Machine-Gun Artillery Regiment redesignated from 394th Motorized Rifle Regiment.
    48 129th Guards Machine-Gun Artillery Division formed from former 123rd Motor Rifle Division.
    49 130th 'Pacific' Machine-Gun Artillery Division formed from former 135th 'Pacific' Motor Rifle Division in 1989.
    50 199th Machine-Gun Artillery Regiment formed from former 365th Motor Rifle Regiment.
    51 111th Guards and 125th Guards Tank Regiments presumed to have disbanded as the 21st Guards Tank Division reorganized as the 21st 'Vitebsk' Guards Motor Rifle Division.
    52 143rd Motorized Rifle Regiment and 57th Machine-Gun Artillery Regiment transferred from former 17th Machine-Gun Artillery Division?
    53 128th Machine-Gun Artillery Division formed from the 272nd Motor Rifle Division.
    54 40th Machine-Gun Artillery Regiment redesignated from former 484th Motorized Rifle Regiment.

    Other Sources:

    Wikipedia: Armed Forces of the Russian Federation; List of Soviet Army divisions 1989–91

    GlobalSecurity.org: Russia Military Guide

    Orbat.com: Warsaw Pact Order of Battle June 1989



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