Southern Military District

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.[5] 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 features 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.[6]

In 2016, the District was 98% staffed by contract servicemen.[7]

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 currently by the deputy commander of the military district Lieutenant General Rustam Muradov.[8]

Branch Ministry of Defense Russian Federation in Simferopol

As part of the larger reorganisation, the 49th Army appears to have reformed with its headquarters seemingly in the former Institute of Communications of the Strategic Rocket Forces at Stavropol.[9] According to warfare.ru, 49th Army (listed at Stavropol/Maikop) has under control the 4th Guards and 7th Military Bases (South Ossetia and Abkhazia) and the 8th (former Taman Guards Motor Rifle Division), 33rd Mountain Motor Rifle Brigade and 34th separate Mountain Motor Rifle Brigades (Borzoi, Chechniya, Maikop, and Storozhevaya-2), as well as the 66th Communications Brigade.[10]

There are also three Spetsnaz brigades (the 100th, 10th, and 22nd), plus two Russian Airborne Troops units also stationed in the district:the 7th Guards Airborne Division at Novorossiysk and the 56th Guards Air Assault Brigade at Kamyshin.[11] The Russian Air Force 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.

In early 2017, the formation of a new 8th Army, successor to the Soviet 8th Guards Army, began, as part of 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 Brigade. The first phase of its formation is to be completed in June 2017.[12]

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IISS estimate of major unit dispositions in the Southern Military District, 20 March 2014

• 175th Luninets-Pinsk Order of Alexander Nevsky Twice Red Star Headquarters Brigade (Aksay)
• 176th Communications Brigade (Territorial) (Rassvet)
• 11th Guards Kingisepp Red Banner Order of Alexander Nevsky Engineering Brigade (Kamensk-Shakhtinsky)
• 28th NBC Defence Brigade (Kamyshin)
• 439th Rocket Artillery Brigade (Znamensk)
• 1270th Electronic Warfare Center (Kovalevka)
• 37th Railway Brigade (Russian Railway Troops) (Volgograd)
• 39th Railway Brigade (Krasnodar)
• 333rd Railway Pontoon Bridge Battalion (Volgograd)
• Mountain Training Center of the Armed Forces (Baksan)
• 54th Training Center of Intelligence Units (Vladikavkaz)
• 27th Training Center of Railway Troops (Volgograd)
• 4th Guards Military Base in (Dzhava-Tskhinval, South Ossetia, Georgia)[13]
• 7th Military Base (Gudauta, Abkhazia, Georgia) 'Krasnodar Red Banner, Order of Kutuzov, Order of the Red Star' (former 131st Motor Rifle Brigade)[14]
• Unnamed Military Base in (Stepanakert, Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan)

58th Army (Vladikavkaz)[15]

• 42nd Guards Motor Rifle Division (Shali, Khankala, Borzoy)
• 19th Motor Rifle Brigade (Vladikavkaz)
• 136th Guards Motor Rifle Brigade (Buynaksk)
• 12th Rocket Brigade (Mozdok)[16]
• 291st Artillery Brigade (Troitskaya)
• 67th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Brigade (Volgograd/Beketovskaya, Volgograd Oblast)[17]
• 34th C3 Brigade (Vladikavkaz)

Note: the 42nd Guards Motor Rifle Division is reforming from late 2016 in Chechniya from the 8th Guards, 17th, and 18th Guards Motor Rifle Brigades[18]

8th Army (Novocherkassk)

• 150th Motor Rifle Division (Novocherkassk)
• 20th Guards Motor Rifle Brigade (Volgograd)
• 464th Rocket Brigade

49th Army (Stavropol/Maykop)

• 205th Motor Rifle Brigade (Budennovsk)
• 34th Motorized Rifle Brigade (Mountain) (Storozhevaya-2)
• 66th C3 Brigade (Stavropol)
• 227th Artillery Brigade (Maykop)
• 1st Guards Rocket Brigade (Krasnodar)
• 439th Guards Perekop Order of Kurozov Rocket Artillery Brigade (Znamensk)
• 21st NBC Defense Brigade (Kamyshin)
• 175th C3 Brigade (Aksay)
• 176th Communications Brigade (Novocherkassk)
• 154th ECM Brigade OSN (Izobilny)
• Logistic Support Brigade in (Stavropol)

102nd Military Base (Gyumri, Armenia)

• 76th Motorized Brigade (Gyumri, Armenia)
• 73rd Motorized Brigade (Yerevan, Armenia)
• 988th Air Defense Regiment (Gyumri, Armenia)

Airborne Troops

• 56th Guards Air Assault Brigade (Kamyshin)
• 7th Guards Airborne Division at (Novorossiysk)

Special forces/Reconnaissance

• 100th Reconnaissance Brigade (Experimental) (Mozdok-7)
• 10th Spetsnaz Brigade in (Krasnodar)
• 22nd Guards Spetsnaz Brigade in (Rostov-on-Don)

Air Force units

• 4th Air and Air Defence Forces Army

Naval Forces

• Black Sea Fleet
  • 22nd Army Corps[19]
    • 810th Naval Infantry Brigade[20]
    • 382nd Naval Infantry Battalion
    • 11th Coastal Defense Missile-Artillery Brigade
    • 126th Coastal Defense Brigade
    • 1096th Fleet Rocket Artillery Regiment (Coastal Defense)
    • 8th Field Artillery Regiment (Coastal Defense)
    • 68th Fleet Naval Engineers Regiment
    • 133rd Fleet Logistics and Materiel Regiment
    • 4th Fleet NBC Regiment
• Caspian Flotilla
  • 177th Naval Infantry Regiment[21][22]
    • Regimental HQ
    • 414th and 727th Naval Infantry Battalions
    • Tank Battalion
  • 46th Coastal Defense Missile Artillery Battalion (Surface to Air)

• ^1 The federal subjects of Crimea and Sevastopol are disputed territories internationally recognized as de jure part of Ukraine but under the de facto administration of the Russian Federation.