Southern Military District
Russian military district From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Russian military district From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Order of the Red Banner Southern Military District (‹See Tfd›Russian: Южный военный округ, romanized: Yuzhnyy voyennyy okrug) is a military district of Russia.
 | You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Ukrainian. (October 2019) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
|
| Southern Military District | |
|---|---|
| Южный военный округ | |
Emblem of the Southern Military District | |
| Founded | 22 October 2010 |
| Country |  Russia |
| Branch |  Russian Ground Forces |
| Type | Military district |
| Part of | Ministry of Defence |
| Headquarters | Budennovsky Prospekt 43, Rostov-on-Don[1] |
| Engagements | |
| Decorations |  Order of the Red Banner.jpg){kind=small} Order of Suvorov |
| Website | Official website |
| Commanders | |
| Current commander | Colonel General Gennady Anashkin |
| Insignia | |
| Flag |  |
It is one of the five military districts of the Russian Armed Forces, with its jurisdiction primarily within the North Caucasus region of the country, and Russian bases in South Caucasian post-Soviet states. The Southern Military District was created as part of the 2008 military reforms, and founded by Presidential Decree №1144 signed on September 20, 2010, to replace the North Caucasus Military District, and absorbing the military commands of the Black Sea Fleet and Caspian Flotilla.[2][3] The district began operation on October 22, 2010, under the command of Colonel-General Aleksandr Galkin.
The Southern Military District is the smallest military district in Russia by geographic size. The district contains 13 federal subjects of Russia: Adygea, Astrakhan Oblast, Chechnya, Dagestan, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, Kalmykia, Karachay-Cherkessia, Krasnodar Krai, North Ossetia-Alania, Rostov Oblast, Stavropol Krai and Volgograd Oblast. After the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine was launched on 24 February 2022, six oblasts of Ukraine, partially occupied by Russia, were announced as being added to the district: the Crimea, Donetsk, Kherson, Lugansk, Sevastopol and Zaporozhye.[3][4] These territories are components of Ukraine which since early 2022 have been partially or fully militarily occupied by Russian military forces.
The Southern Military District is headquartered in Rostov-on-Don, and its current district commander is Colonel general Gennady Anashkin, who has held the position since 15 May 2024.[5][6] It is considered to be the most effective and competent formation of the Russian military.[7]
The Southern Military District was formed on 22 October 2010, according to Presidential Decree of 20 September 2010 № 1144 "On the Military Administrative Division Of the Russian Federation" the Southern Military District was created along with two other new larger military districts: the Central Military District and the Eastern Military District.[2] By order of then Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, on 22 July 2010, interim commanders were named for the new military districts. Thus, the new position of commander of the Southern Military District, was Lieutenant-General Aleksandr Galkin, former Commander of the North Caucasus Military District, with Major-General Nikolai Pereslegin as the chief of staff for the district. Galkin was later promoted to Colonel General soon after his appointment as district commander.
The Southern Military District also directs two Russian military bases in Armenia: the 102nd Military Base in Gyumri, and the 3624th Air Base at the civil-military Erebuni Airport in the capital Yerevan, under the joint control of Armenian and Russian authorities.
In April 2014, Crimea and Sevastopol were added to the Southern Military District following the 2014 Crimean crisis in Ukraine, when they were annexed by Russia. The legal status of Crimea (as the Autonomous Republic of Crimea) and the city of Sevastopol is currently under dispute: Ukraine and the majority of the international community considers them an integral part of Ukraine, while Russia considers them an integral part of Russia, with Crimea (as the Republic of Crimea) and Sevastopol approved as federal subjects of Russian Federation.[8]
In 2016, the District was 98% staffed by contract servicemen.[9]
In November 2020, following the aftermath of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, Russian military peacekeepers were deployed to Nagorno-Karabakh for securing the Lachin corridor and along the line of contact for at least five years. A military base was set up with its headquarters at Stepanakert and is part of the Southern Military District commanded by First deputy commander of the military district Lieutenant General Rustam Muradov.[10] He was replaced by Deputy military district commander Lieutenant General Alexey Avdeev on 13 May 2021.[11]
In January–February 2021, the 1061st Centre for Material-Technical Support (1061 CMTO), the district's logistics command, was reorganised.[12] A storage base for missile and artillery weapons was formed and transferred to the direct subordination of the 1061 CMTO. The centre itself is located in the 4, 6 7 and 21 Military towns (военных городках) in Novocherkassk. One of the other units of the 1061 CMTO is the warehouse (for storing material and technical equipment of the clothing service) (Military Unit 57229-31) which has been headed by Stanislav Valerievich Yazykov 2011–2018 (in Stepnoy, Volgodonskoy District?).[13]
On 24 June 2023, the headquarters of the district was captured by Wagner Group during the Wagner Group rebellion.[14]
In April 2024, the Ukrainian Main Directorate of Intelligence claimed that some 18,000 Russian soldiers had deserted the Southern Military District, including 2,000 contract and 10,000 mobilised soldiers.[15]
As part of the larger reorganisation, the 49th Army reformed with its headquarters seemingly in the former Institute of Communications of the Strategic Rocket Forces at Stavropol.[16] According to warfare.ru, 49th Army (listed at Stavropol/Maikop) has under control the 7th Military Base (in Abkhazia) and the 8th (former Taman Guards Motor Rifle Division), 33rd Mountain Motor Rifle and 34th separate Mountain Motor Rifle Brigades (Borzoi, Chechniya, Maikop, and Storozhevaya-2), as well as the 66th Communications Brigade.[17]
There are also two Spetsnaz brigades (10th and 22nd) an experimental reconnaissance brigade (the 100th), plus one Russian Airborne Troops unit also stationed in the district: the 7th Guards Mountain Air Assault Division at Novorossiysk (which, in 2021, absorbed the former 56th Guards Airborne Brigade).[18] The Russian Aerospace Forces has the 4th Air and Air Defence Forces Army in the district. Also under the district's control are the Navy's Black Sea Fleet and Caspian Flotilla, including their respective air and Naval Infantry components, including – in the case of the Black Sea Fleet – the 22nd Army Corps.
In early 2017, the reformation of the 8th Guards Combined Arms Army, successor to the Soviet 8th Guards Army, began within the Southern Military District. The army's headquarters is located at Novocherkassk and it is to include the 150th Motor Rifle Division and the 20th Guards Motor Rifle Division. The first phase of its formation was completed in June 2017.[19]
The 58th Guards Combined Arms Army comprising two further motorized rifle divisions, plus other army level units and the 4th Guards Military Base in South Ossetia is the third army-level formation in the District.
58th Combined Arms Army (Vladikavkaz)[20]
Note: the 42nd Guards Motor Rifle Division, reforming from late 2016 in Chechniya, is drawn from the 8th Guards, 17th, and 18th Guards Motor Rifle Brigades[29]
8th Guards Combined Arms Army (Novocherkassk)
51st Combined Arms Army (Former People's Militia of the Donetsk People's Republic: Народная милиция Донецкой Народной Республики):[lower-alpha 1]
3rd Guards Luhansk-Severodonetsk Combined Arms Army (Former People's Militia of the Luhansk People's Republic: Народная милиция Луганской Народной Республики):
18th Combined Arms Army (Crimea)
49th Combined Arms Army (Stavropol/Maykop)
Airborne Troops
Special forces/Reconnaissance
Aerospace Forces units
Naval Forces
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