Southern Military District

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Southern Military District
Южный военный округ
Great emblem of the Southern Military District.svg
Emblem of the Southern Military District
Founded22 October 2010
CountryFlag of Russia.svg Russia
Type Military district
Part ofBanner of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (obverse).svg  Russian Armed Forces
HeadquartersBudennovsky Prospekt 43, Rostov-on-Don [1]
Decorations Order of the Red Banner
Order of Suvorov
Website Official website
Commanders
Current
commander
Colonel General Sergey Kuzovlev
Insignia
Flag Flag of the Russian Southern Military District.png
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The Southern Military District, on a map of the five Russian military districts Military districts of Russia 2016.svg
  The Southern Military District, on a map of the five Russian military districts

The Southern Military District (Russian : Южный военный округ, romanized: Yuzhnyy voyennyy okrug) is a military district of Russia.

Contents

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 1 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 along with the six occupied Ukrainian oblasts consists of Crimea, Donetsk, Kherson, Lugansk, Sevastopol and Zaporozhye. [3] [4]

The Southern Military District is headquartered in Rostov-on-Don, and its current district commander is Colonel General Sergey Kuzovlev, who has held the position since 23 January 2023. [5] It is considered to be the most effective and competent formation of the Russian military. [6]

History

Headquarters of the district at 53 Pushkinskaya Street / 43 Budenovsky avenue, Rostov-on-Don Buildind of Kunduri revenue house and Palace Hotel.jpg
Headquarters of the district at 53 Pushkinskaya Street / 43 Budenovsky avenue, Rostov-on-Don

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. [7]

In 2016, the District was 98% staffed by contract servicemen. [8]

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. [9] He was replaced by Deputy military district commander Lieutenant General Alexey Avdeev on 13 May 2021. [10]

In January–February 2021, the 1061st Centre for Material-Technical Support (1061 CMTO), the district's logistics command, was reorganised. [11] 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?). [12]

On 24 June 2023, the headquarters of the district was captured by Wagner Group during the Wagner Group rebellion. [13]

District organization

Russian Ministry of Defense branch office in Simferopol Branch of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation in the city of Simferopol.jpg
Russian Ministry of Defense branch office in Simferopol

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. [14] 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. [15]

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). [16] 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. [17]

The 58th 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.

Component units

External image
Searchtool.svg IISS estimate of major unit dispositions in the Southern Military District, 20 March 2014

58th Combined Arms Army (Vladikavkaz) [18]

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 [27]

8th Combined Arms Army (Novocherkassk)

1st Army Corps (People's Militia of the Donetsk People's Republic: Народная милиция Донецкой Народной Республики): [lower-alpha 1]

2nd Guards Luhansk-Severodonetsk Army Corps (People's Militia of the Luhansk People's Republic: Народная милиция Луганской Народной Республики):

49th Combined Arms Army (Stavropol/Maykop)

Airborne Troops

Special forces/Reconnaissance

Aerospace Forces units

Naval Forces

Leadership

Colonel-General Sergey Kuzovlev Sergey Kuzovlev.jpg
Colonel-General Sergey Kuzovlev

Commanders

Chiefs of Staff – First Deputy Commanders

Deputy Commanders

Commanders of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Nagorno-Karabakh

Notes

  1. Ukrainian sources describe the 1st and 2nd (Donbas/Russian) Army Corps in Ukraine's Donbas as "operationally subordinate" to the 8th Army HQ. [34] As of 2021, subordinate units in these two corps are said to include:

See also

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References

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  28. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Harris & Kagan 2018.
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References