The Western Military District is the military-administrative unit of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in the north-west of the country. It is intended to protect the western borders of Russia. The headquarters of the Western Military District is located in the "cultural capital" of our country - St. Petersburg.
Military administrative division of the Russian Federation
The main administrative unit of the Armed Forces is the district. Since December 1, 2010, according to the Decree of the President, four such units have been formed in Russia: Central, Eastern, Western and Southern districts. The first two are the largest in terms of occupied territory, and the last is the smallest. Military administrative reform consisted of several stages. So, according to the first of them, from September 1, 2010, five basic units were created: the North Caucasus, Volga-Ural, Siberian, Far Eastern and Western military districts. However, such a division did not last long. On the first of December of that year, the second Appendix to the Presidential Decree entered into force, according to which only four administrative units remained.
Central Military District
This administrative unit included the Republic of Altai, the Republic of Mari El, the Republic of Bashkortostan, the Republic of Mordovia, the Republic of Tuva, the Republic of Tatarstan, the Udmurt Republic, the Chuvash Republic, the Republic of Khakassia, Altai, Perm, Krasnoyarsk Territory, Irkutsk, Kirov, Kurgan, Kem Novosibirsk, Omsk, Penza, Samara, Orenburg, Saratov, Sverdlovsk, Tyumen, Ulyanovsk, Chelyabinsk, Tomsk Regions, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug - Ugra and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug ug.
Eastern Military District
This administrative unit included the Republic of Sakha, the Republic of Buryatia, Transbaikal, Kamchatka, Khabarovsk, Primorsky Territories, Amur, Sakhalin, Magadan Regions, as well as the Jewish Autonomous Region and Chukotka Autonomous Region.
Southern Military District
This administrative unit included the Republic of Adygea, the Republic of Ingushetia, the Republic of Dagestan, the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, the Republic of Kalmykia, the Chechen Republic, the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, the Krasnodar and Stavropol Territories, the Rostov, Volgograd Regions.
Western Military District
This administrative unit included the Republic of Komi, the Republic of Karelia, Arkhangelsk, Belgorod, Vladimir, Vologda, Bryansk, Voronezh, Ivanovo, Kaluga, Kostroma, Kaliningrad, Kursk, Leningrad, Moscow, Murmansk, Lipetsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Novgorod, Pskov, Oryol, Smolensk, Tambov, Tula, Yaroslavl, Tver regions, the cities of St. Petersburg and Moscow, as well as the Nenets Autonomous Okrug.
Composition of the Western Military District
This administrative military unit, formed during the reform of 2008-2010, united the two military districts - Leningrad and Moscow. In addition, the Baltic and Northern Fleet, as well as the First Command of the Air Defense and Air Force, were included in the composition of the air defense forces.
ZVO became the first administrative unit formed during this new division system. The troops of the Western Military District consist of two and a half thousand military units and formations. Their total strength exceeds four hundred thousand military personnel — about forty percent of the total strength of the Russian Armed Forces. The commander of the Western Military District is responsible for all military formations deployed in this territory of all military branches and types of troops. The exception is the Space and Strategic Rocket Forces. In addition, his operational subordination includes the following units: Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Border Guard Service of the FSB, parts of the Ministry of Emergencies, as well as other ministries and departments of the Russian Federation that perform tasks on the territory of this district.
Organization and number of troops: Airborne Forces, Marines, Navy, Air Force and Air Defense
The Western Military District includes four parts of the Airborne Forces. This is: a separate guards regiment special. destination, located in Moscow, two guards air assault divisions (in Tula and Pskov) and one guards airborne division (in Ivanovo). It also includes coast guard units and marines: a separate motorized rifle regiment (located in Kaliningrad), a separate motorized rifle brigade (in Gusev), a marine guards brigade (in Baltiysk and the village of Mechnikovo), two coastal missile brigades (in Donskoy, in Kaliningrad and Chernyakhovsk), artillery brigade (in Kaliningrad), a separate regiment of the marine corps (in the village of Sputnik, Murmansk region). In addition, it included two special forces brigades. The commander of the Western Military District is responsible for the Baltic and Northern Fleet, the Aviation of these fleets, the first command of the Air Defense and Air Force, as well as the USC East Kazakhstan region.
Ground troops
The ZVO includes the Sixth Combined Arms Red Banner Army (motorized rifle, artillery, anti-aircraft and engineering brigades), the Twentieth Guards Combined Arms Red Banner Army (motorized rifle, tank, missile, artillery and rocket-artillery brigades). The administration of the Western Military District also extends to units of the district subordination, which include an operational group of Russian troops located in the Transnistrian region (Republic of Moldova), and a separate Sevastopol Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade.
District Commander
The headquarters of this military administrative unit is located on Palace Square in the city. The head of the Western Military District, Lieutenant General A. Sidorov (in this position from December 24, 2012), from October 2010 to November 2012, Colonel General A. Bakhin was in the position of chief. The chief of staff - the first deputy commander is Admiral N. Maximov. Head of Organizational and Mobilization Department - Deputy Chief of Staff - Major General E. Burdingsky. The deputy commander of the troops is Major General I. Buvaltsev.
Teachings in ZVO
Military reform has affected not only the administrative division of the army, but also involves the modernization of the technical base and armament, and combat training has changed for the better - not only contracted officers and employees, but also military soldiers. Now much attention is paid to conducting field classes and exercises.
Modern soldiers get acquainted with military equipment in real field conditions, and not according to methodological recommendations. So, during the period from May 27 to June 5, planned exercises with firing from modern Iskander-M missile systems were held in the Western Military District. The exercises were held as part of a test of the combat capabilities of the Russian Armed Forces, equipped with high-precision weapons. During this event, the military worked out the organization of the combined destruction of weapons of air and ground-based critical objects of the alleged enemy. The exercises involved one missile compound of the Western District, which is armed with long-range aircraft and Iskander-M missile systems.
During this event, the missile unit made a march in a combined way, its length was more than two thousand kilometers. The soldiers worked out intelligence issues along the route of the complex, covert deployment, occupation of firing positions. At the final stage, together with the long-range aviation units, the rocket launchers conducted live-fire firing to hit a conventional target with airborne and ground-based cruise missiles at the maximum possible distance. To assess the effectiveness of the results used the latest unmanned aerial vehicles of domestic production.
