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. The district includes the Baltic Fleet and the Northern Fleet of the Russian Navy.
The district controls the 6th and 20th Guards Armies, the 1st Guards Tank Army, 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 6th Air and Air Defence Forces Army 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.
List of commanders from 2010
2010 (acting) Colonel General Valery Gerasimov2010–2012 Colonel General Arkady Bakhin2012–10 November 2015 Colonel General Anatoly Sidorov10 November 2015-present Colonel General Andrey KartapolovParts of district subordination:
Operational Group of Russian Forces in the Transnistrian region of the Republic of Moldova (Tiraspol, Transnistria)45th Guards Berlin Engineering Brigade132nd Signals Brigade29th, 34th and 38th Railway Brigades of the Russian Railway Troops1st Training and Control Brigade27th NBC Brigade154th Preobrazhensky Independent Commandant's Regiment (Moscow)1st Semyonovsky Independent Rifle Regiment (Ramensky District, Moscow Oblast)79th Guards MRL Artillery Brigade16th Radio-technical Brigade
1st Guards Tank Army (Odintsovo, Moscow Region) (reinstated 2014)
4th Guards Tank Division (Naro-Fominsk)2nd Guards Motor Rifle Division (Kalininets)144th Guards Motor Rifle Division (Yelnya)6th Tank Brigade27th Independent Guards Sevastopol Motor Rifle Brigade (Mosrentgen)96th Separate Intelligence BrigadeArtillery Brigade112th Guards Artillery (MRL) Brigade53rd Air Defense Missile Artillery Brigade60th Control Brigade
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 unit5th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Brigade (Gorelovo)95th Administration and Command Brigade (Gorelovo)26th Missile Brigade (Luga)
20th Guards Army (n. Mulino, Nizhny Novgorod region)
3rd Motor Rifle Division (Boguchar)9th Motorized Rifle Brigade (Nizhny Novgorod)23rd Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade (Valuyki)28th Independent Simferopol Motor Rifle Brigade (Klintsy)1st Indeoendent Guards Ural-Lvov Tank Brigade (Boguchar) (reformed 2015)269th Military Weapons and Equipment Storage Base53rd Anti-Aircraft Rocket Brigade (Kursk)49th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Brigade9th Administration Brigade288th Artillery Brigade448th Missile Brigade (Kursk)112th Missile Brigade69th Materiel Security BrigadeRussian Airborne Troops:
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 Brigade16th Spetsnaz Brigade322nd Special Forces Training CenterNaval Forces
Baltic FleetNorthern FleetPart of the Naval Infantry and Coast Defense:
11th Army Corps (Kaliningrad)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 Battalion742th Fleet Signals Unit302nd Fleet Radio-Electronic Regiment61st Marine Brigade (n. Sputnik)80th Independent (Arctic Warfare) Motor Rifle Brigade200th 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
