The Western Military District was headquartered in the General Staff Building in Saint Petersburg.
The Western Military District, until its abolishment in February 2024, was led by Colonel General Yevgeny Nikiforov, who was previously Chief of Staff of the Eastern Military District.[6]
Military units of the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Border Troops of the FSB, as well as units of the Ministry of Emergency Situations (Russia) and other ministries and departments of the Russian Federation performing tasks on the territory of the district are under its operational subordination.[7]
Historyedit
The Western Military District, "with about 300,000 troops, was formed in 2010 from the Moscow and Leningrad" Military Districts.[8] When the Moscow and Leningrad Distrcits were merged, the Russian soldiers in Transnistria, the former Soviet 14th Guards Combined Arms Army, became part of the Western Military District. Of the 1,700 Russian Armed Forces soldiers in Transnistria by 2022, military sources in Chisinau said that only 70-100 were actually Russians; the rest were Transnistrians who were given contracts to serve in the Russian Armed Forces.[9]
On 26 February 2014, during the invasion of Crimea, President Vladimir Putin ordered the Russian Armed Forces to be "put on alert in the Western Military District as well as units stationed with the 2nd Army Central Military District Command involved in aerospace defense, airborne troops and long-range military transport." Despite media speculation it was for in reaction to the events in Ukraine, Russian Defense MinisterSergei Shoigu said it was unrelated to the unrest in Ukraine.[10]
After a 15-year hiatus, the 1st Guards Tank Army headquarters was reformed within the district in November 2014.[11]
In the September Zapad 2017 exercise, a significant portion of troops from the Western Military District numbering 12,700 personnel were involved in Belarus, the Kaliningrad Region and Russia's other north-western areas as well.
A December 2018 Russian Ministry of Defense press release said that an independent Spetsnaz company had been formed in a combined arms army of the district.[13]
The Main Directorate of Intelligence (Ukraine) of the Ministry of Defence (Ukraine) on 26 December 2022 that General Yevgeny Nikiforov was appointed as commander, Western Military District, and commander of the Russian western grouping of forces in Ukraine.[16] He had been transferred from the post of first deputy commander, Eastern Military District. In this transfer, Colonel-General Sergey Kuzovlev was removed from the position of commander of the troops of the Western Military District, after having only been in post for about a month.[6] "The reason for Kuzovlev's dismissal was the failure of preparations for an offensive in the Lyman [area], but [Ukrainian intelligence assessed it also as a] internal political struggle.. because from the Shoigu-Gerasimov orbit changing for a candidate from the Surovikin-Prygozhin group.[6]
Formations and unitsedit
Direct reporting units and formationsedit
Muzyka 2020 lists a total of 21 direct reporting units and formations, but does not include the OGRF in Moldova, but does include Land Forces Command HQ, Moscow, and Joint Strategic Command - West at St Petersburg.
146th Special Purpose Radio Engineer Brigade (Bugry)[20]
45th Separate Engineer-Camouflage Regiment (HQ located in Vladimir Oblast; in late 2020 reported at Inzhenernyy 1, 55.793785, 37.192298).[21]Military Unit Number 58142. The regiment's formation was completed in June 2017; as well as the ability to quickly camouflage key facilities, it has "“inflatable models of tanks, guns, infantry fighting vehicles, PVO [air defense] systems, and other weapons systems."[22]
18th Guards Motorized Rifle Division: formed in December 2020[27] incorporating existing (and potentially new) regiments.[28] As of 2021 ground combat units deployed within the 11th Corps include:
15th Special Aerospace Forces Army (Moscow-based special Command of Russian Aerospace forces and responsible for cosmodromes and space-monitoring stations) reportedly receiving S-500 SAM/ABM system as of summer 2021[46][47][48]
^Путин подписал указ о новом составе военных округов. ria.ru (in Russian). 2024-02-26. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
^"Указ Президента Российской Федерации от 20 сентября 2010 года № 1144 "О военно-административном делении Российской Федерации"". Archived from the original on 2012-03-31. Retrieved 2014-11-29.
^"Russia sacks commander of Western military district - reports". 2022-10-03.
^"В России создано новое стратегическое командование". Российская газета (in Russian). 2014-12-01. Retrieved 2024-02-05.
^"Северный флот возьмет Арктику под постоянный контроль". Российская газета (in Russian). 2017-05-31. Retrieved 2024-02-05.
^ abcZubkova, Dasha (26 December 2022). "Russia Appoints New Commander Of Troops Of Western Military District - Defense Intelligence". Ukrainian News Agency. Retrieved 26 December 2022.
^"Западный военный округ". Archived from the original on 2014-01-04. Retrieved 2011-07-27.
^Dyner, Anna Maria (13 June 2016). "Russia Beefs Up Military Potential in the Country's Western Areas". Polish Institute of International Affairs.
^Necsutu, Madalin (July 22, 2022). "Moldova Defends Action, Blocking Russian Troop Rotation in Transnistria". Balkan Insight. Chisinau.
^Alpert, Lukas I. (27 February 2014). "Russia Orders Military Exercises Amid Ukraine Tension". The Wall Street Journal.
^bmpd (2017-04-22). "В составе объединенного стратегического командования "Север" сформирован 14-й армейский корпус". bmpd. Retrieved 2017-06-16.
^"В состав общевойсковой армии ЗВО вошло подразделение специального назначения" [Spetsnaz unit included in Western Military District combined arms army] (in Russian). Press Service of the Western Military District. 19 December 2018. Retrieved 28 December 2018.
^"Russia forming 3rd Army Corps for war in Ukraine – ISW". 6 August 2022. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
^"Олег Мельниченко напутствовал направленных в именные подразделения добровольцев". Пенза-Обзор - новости Пензы и Пензенской области (in Russian). 2022-08-05. Retrieved 2022-08-31.
^Kateryna Stepanenko; Karolina Hird; George Barros; Frederick W. Kagan. "Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, December 26 [2022]".
^Ramm, Alexey; Andreev, Evgeny (22 September 2017). "Минобороны вернуло "надувной" полк". Izvestia. Inews. Retrieved 20 December 2017. and "The Russian Camouflage Regiment". OE Watch. 07 (10): 20–21. November 2017. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
^"Аналіз запасів танків РФ на базах зберігання за Уралом". Мілітарний (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2022-09-21.
^"Две новые дивизии ЗВО и ЮВО полностью обустроят в мае 2017 года". РИА Новости (in Russian). 11 November 2016. Retrieved 2017-03-04.
^ abcdefghijk"Russian Military Forces: Interactive Map".
^"Войсковая часть 54607 (16-я ОБрСпецНаза)". 16 November 2015.
^"Rondeli Russian Military Digest: Issue 77, 1 March - 7 March 2021".
^"Baltic Fleet to set up new division in response to NATO's build-up near Russian borders".
^ abc"Rondeli Russian Military Digest: Issue 81, 29 March - 9 May 2021".
^ ab"Rondeli Russian Military Digest: Issue 82, 10 May - 23 May 2021".
^"Танковый полк Балтфлота привлечён к манёврам в Калининградской области -".
^Maria Domańska, Szymon Kardaś, Marek Menkiszak, Jadwiga Rogoża, Andrzej Wilk, Iwona Wiśniewska, Piotr Żochowski (2019-11-07). "Fortress Kaliningrad: Ever Closer to Moscow". OSW Centre for Eastern Studies. pp. 73, 76. Retrieved 2022-09-14.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^"Russia increases number of tanks in Kaliningrad". 28 January 2019.
^"Russia adds firepower to Kaliningrad exclave citing NATO threat". Reuters. 7 December 2020.
^"Rondeli Russian Military Digest: Issue 72, 25 January - 31 January 2021".
^"Russian Airborne forces receive Sobolyatnik portable radar | June 2020 News Defense Global Security army industry | Defense Security global news industry army 2020 | Archive News year".
^"В тылу сражений: Калининград защитят сверхдальние разведчики". 10 March 2021.
^"Baltic Fleet's Tor-M2 missile systems down maneuvering fast-speed targets in drills".
^ abc"A look at the Baltic Fleet and the defense of Kaliningrad". 6 April 2020.
^"Modernized Artillery for Russian Forces in Kaliningrad". 2 October 2019.
^"Russian Forces in Kaliningrad: Implications of the newly formed 18th Guards Motor Rifle Division". 22 March 2021.
^"Побережье России прикрыли "ракетные монстры"". 7 January 2018.
^Milenin, Andrei (20 September 2016). "Александр Дворников назначен командующим войсками ЮВО" [Aleksandr Dvornikov appointed commander of the Southern Military District]. Isvestia (in Russian). Retrieved 2 October 2016.
^"Бывший командующий российскими войсками в Сирии возглавил Западный военный округ" (in Russian). Kommersant. 10 November 2018. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
^ ab"Ukraine-Niederlagen trotz brutalem Vorgehen – Putin schasst wohl nächsten Top-General". 29 June 2022. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
^Mironenko, Dmitry (5 September 2022). "Цимбалюк назвал топ-генералов российской армии, которые полетели со своих должностей из-за Украины". Dialog.ua (in Russian). Retrieved 9 September 2022.
^Karolina Hird, Kateryna Stepanenko, Riley Bailey, Katherine Lawlor, and Frederick W. Kagan (2022-10-03). "RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE CAMPAIGN ASSESSMENT, OCTOBER 3".{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^"Russia Appoints New Commander Of Troops Of Western Military District - Defense Intelligence". Retrieved 26 December 2022.
^"Адмирал Николай Максимов назначен начштаба Западного военного округа". Российская газета (in Russian). 2011-03-30. Retrieved 2024-01-24.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2022/09/15/the-russians-spent-months-forming-a-new-army-corps-it-lasted-days-in-ukraine/?sh=3a67e82356e6 - 3rd Army Corps in Ukraine
Referencesedit
ВЗГЛЯД (2015). "Россия закрывает "черную дыру" на границе с Украиной". ВЗГЛЯД.РУ.
Galeotti, Mark (2017). The Modern Russian Army 1992–2016. Elite 217. Oxford: Osprey. ISBN 978-1-47281-908-6.
Institute for the Study of War (2018). "Russian Ground Forces Order of Battle" (PDF).
Muzyka, Konrad (December 2020). "Russian Forces in the Western Military District" (PDF). CNA Corporation. (Rochan Consulting)