Western Military District

Western Military District Западный военный округ
Emblem of the Western Military District
Founded	October 20, 2010 – present
Country	Russia
Type	Military district
Part of	Russian Armed Forces
Headquarters	Saint Petersburg
Decorations	Order of Lenin
Commanders
Colonel General	Andrey Kartapolov

Western Military District (Russian: Западный военный округ) is one of the four operational strategic commands of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. The district was formed in Presidential Decree №1144 signed on September 20, 2010.^[1] The district includes the Baltic Fleet and the Northern Fleet of the Russian Navy.

The district controls the 6th and 20th Guards Armies, formations and units of the Russian Airborne Troops (including the 76th Air Assault Division), and Baltic Fleet coastal defence units under Fleet HQ in Kaliningrad, as well as the 1st Air and Air Defence Forces Command of the Russian Air Force. It is headquartered in Saint Petersburg's General Staff Building on the north end of Palace Square.

On 26 February 2014, during the Crimean crisis, 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 Minister Sergei Shoigu said it was not connected to the unrest in Ukraine.^[2]

List of commanders from 2010

• 2010 (acting) Colonel General Valery Gerasimov
• 2010–2012 Colonel General Arkady Bakhin
• 2012–10 November 2015 Colonel General Anatoly Sidorov
• 10 November 2015-present Colonel General Andrey Kartapolov

Units

Western Military District HQ at the Saint Petersburg General Staff Building

Parts of district subordination:

• Operational Group of Russian Forces in the Transnistrian region of the Republic of Moldova (Tiraspol, Transnistria)
• 45th Guards Berlin Engineering Brigade
• 132nd Signals Brigade
• 29th, 34th and 38th Railway Brigades of the Russian Railway Troops
• 1st Training and Control Brigade
• 27th NBC Brigade
• 154th Preobrazhensky Independent Commandant's Regiment (Moscow)
• 1st Semyonovsky Independent Rifle Regiment (Ramensky District, Moscow Oblast)
• 79th Guards MRL Artillery Brigade
• 16th Radio-technical Brigade

1st Guards Tank Army (Odintsovo, Moscow Region) (reinstated 2014)^[3]

• 4th Guards Tank Division (Naro-Fominsk)
• 2nd Guards Motor Rifle Division (Kalininets)
• 6th Tank Brigade
• 27th Independent Guards Sevastopol Motorized Rifle Brigade (Mosrentgen)

6th Army (Saint Petersburg)

• 138th Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade (Kamenka)
• 25th Motorized Rifle Brigade "Lativan Riflemen" (n. Vladimirsky Lager)
• 9th Guards Artillery Brigade (Luga)
• 268th Guards Artillery Brigade (Pushkin)
• Engineering unit
• 5th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Brigade (Gorelovo)
• 95th Administration and Command Brigade (Gorelovo)
• 26th Missile Brigade (Luga)

20th Guards Army (n. Mulino, Nizhny Novgorod region)

• 9th Motorized Rifle Brigade (Nizhny Novgorod)
• 269th Military Weapons and Equipment Storage Base
• 53rd Anti-Aircraft Rocket Brigade (Kursk)
• 49th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Brigade
• 9th Administration Brigade
• 288th Artillery Brigade
• 448th Missile Brigade (Kursk)
• 112th Missile Brigade
• 69th Materiel Security Brigade

Airborne Forces:

• 45th Spetsnaz Regiment (Kubinka, Moscow)
• 76th Guards Air Assault Division (Pskov)
• 98th Guards Airborne Division (Ivanovo)
• 106th Guards Airborne Division (Tula)
• 38th Airborne Signal Regiment (n. Bear Lake, Moscow region)

Intelligence/Spetsnaz units and formations:

• 2nd Spetsnaz Brigade
• 16th Spetsnaz Brigade
• 322nd Special Forces Training Center

Naval Forces

• Baltic Fleet
• Northern Fleet

Part of the Naval Infantry and Coast Defense:

• 7th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment (Kaliningrad)
• 79th Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade (Gusev)
• 336th Guards Bialystok Marine Brigade (village Mechnikovo, Baltiysk) (Naval Infantry)
• 25th Coastal Missile Brigade (Don)
• 152nd Guards Missile Brigade (Chernyakhovsk, Kaliningrad)
• 244th Guards Artillery Brigade (Kaliningrad)
• 183rd Fleet Ground Forces Rocket Regiment (Gvardeysk)
• 73rd Independent Bridge Battalion
• 742th Fleet Signals Unit
• 302nd Fleet Radio-Electronic Regiment
• 61st Marine Brigade (n. Sputnik)
• 200th Independent Motor Rifle Brigade (n. Pechenga, Murmansk region)
• 536th Fleet Independent Coastal Defense Missile Artillery Brigade (Snezhnogorsk)
• 516th Fleet Signals Unit (Severnomorsk)
• 180th Naval Engineering Battalion

References

Coordinates: 59°56′17″N 30°19′02″E / 59.9381°N 30.3172°E / 59.9381; 30.3172