The Order of Lenin Moscow Military District () is a military district of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Originally it was a district of the Imperial Russian Army until the Russian Empire's collapse in 1917. It was then part of the Soviet Armed Forces. The district was awarded the Order of Lenin in 1968. In 2010, it was merged with the Leningrad Military District to form the new Western Military District. In December 2022, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu proposed to reestablish it along with the Leningrad Military District, a decision confirmed in June 2023 by Deputy Chief of the General Staff Yevgeny Burdinsky. The district was formally reconstituted on 26 February 2024 by a Presidential Decree №141, after the Western Military District was split.
Colonel General Sergey Kuzovlev took over as the new district's commander on 15 May 2024. The Moscow Military District is one of the smallest military districts in Russia by geographic size. It is one of two military districts of the Russian Armed Forces, with its jurisdiction primarily within the western central region of European Russia. The Moscow Military District contains 20 federal subjects of Russia: Belgorod Oblast, Bryansk Oblast, Ivanovo Oblast, Kaluga Oblast, Kostroma Oblast, Kursk Oblast, Lipetsk Oblast, Moscow, Moscow Oblast, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Oryol Oblast, Ryazan Oblast, Smolensk Oblast, Tambov Oblast, Tver Oblast, Tula Oblast, Vladimir Oblast, Vologda Oblast, Voronezh Oblast, Yaroslavl Oblast. It lies in the Central Federal District.
Military units of the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the FSB Border Service of Russia, as well as units of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and other ministries and departments of the Russian Federation performing tasks on the territory of the district are under its operational subordination.
History Russian Empire (1864–1917) In the beginning of the second half of the 19th century Russian officials realized the need for re-organization of the Imperial Russian Army to meet new circumstances.This section is translated from the official website of the District – http://www.mil.ru/848/1045/1272/1365/1362/1890/index.shtml During May 1862, the War Ministry, headed by Army General Dmitry Milyutin, introduced to Tsar Alexander II of Russia proposals for the reorganization of the army, which included the formation of fifteen military districts. A tsarist edict of 6 August 1864, announced in a Defence Minister’s order on 10 August of the same year, established ten military districts, including Moscow. The District’s territory then comprised 12 provinces: Vladimir, Vologda, Kaluga, Kostroma, Moscow, Nizhniy Novgorod, Ryazan, Smolensk, Tambov, Tver, Tula, and Yaroslavl. The District was intended as a reinforcement source for troops and equipment, being some distance from the frontier, rather than an operational area.
The District dispatched five infantry and a cavalry division south to the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–8, as well as sending another division to the Caucasus area. This force totaled around 30,000 men and 20,000 horses. Over 80,000 men were also called into reserve units. The District also housed 21,000 Turkish prisoners of war. During the First World War over a million men were stationed in the district. Much of the garrison was involved in the October Revolution of 1917, and consequent establishment of a Soviet regime in the cities of Bryansk, Vladimir, Voronezh, Kaluga, Nizhniy Novgorod, Orel, Tver, Yaroslavl. By a resolution of the Moscow Military Revolutionary Committee on , Corps Commander N.I. Muralov was assigned as the new commander of the district.
Soviet Russia & Soviet Union (1917–1991) In the period of the Russian Civil War and military intervention in Russia 1917 - 22 the District prepared military personnel for all the fronts and supplied the Red Army with different forms of armament and allowances. From June to the middle of September 1919 the District conducted 33 callups totalling more than 500,000 people. In Moscow the 1 Moscow Rifle Division, Warsaw revolutionary infantry regiment, and 2nd revolutionary infantry regiment were formed, and Latvian forces were brought to the Latvian Rifles Division. In Voronezh two cavalry divisions were formed, two rifle divisions and two rifle regiments in Nizhniy Novgorod, and the 16th Rifle Division in Tambov. Artillery units too were also being raised in the capital area.
After the end of Civil War in the troops of region were demobilized, as a result of which their number was reduced from 580,000 (at the end of 1920) to 85,000 in January 1923, and the District was reorganised on a peacetime basis. In the 1920s the District had 10 rifle divisions: the 1st Moscow Proletariat Red Banner Rifle Division (first formed either in December 1924 or at the beginning of 1927), the 6th Oryol; the 14th Vladimir; the 17th Nikhegorodskaya; the 18th Yaroslavskaya; the 19th Voronekhskaya; the 48th Tverskaya; the 55th Kurskaya; the 81st Kaluga; and the 84th Tula.Lenskii, 2001 Autumn maneuvers began to be conducted yearly here in the district. The 2nd Rifle Corps was stationed in the district from 1922 to 1936. In the beginning of the 1930 tanks started to be introduced, including the MS or T-18, T-26, T-27, BT, T-28, and the heavy T-35. In 1930 the first mechanized infantry brigade in the Soviet Army was formed in the district.
The Russian Ground Forces' official site notes that the first tactical parachute landing took place in the District on 2 August 1930.
In World War II the District formed three fronts, 23 armies, 128 divisions of all arms, and 197 brigades of all arms, an approximate total of 4.5 million men. In 1944–5 alone the District sent to the front 1,200,000 soldiers. From summer 1945 to summer 1946, in order to supervise the demobilisation process, the District was subdivided into four: the Moscow, Voronezh (1949–60), Gorki (1945—1947, 1949—1953) (where the 324th Rifle Division was probably demobilised), and Smolensk Military Districts (33rd Army, home from Germany, formed Smolensk MD headquarters in late 1945). General Kirill Moskalenko took command of the District in 1953 and would later be a Marshal of the Soviet Union after leaving his post.
The Voronezh Military District was reactivated in 1949 and was active until 1960.
In January 1954 the district's forces comprised the 1st Guards Rifle Corps (including the 62nd Guards Mechanised Division and the 60th Rifle Division); the 11th Guards Rifle Corps (272nd Rifle Division and 23rd Guards Mechanized Division), the 13th Guards Rifle Corps (38th Guards Rifle Division and the 66th Guards Mechanised Division), 38th Guards Airborne Corps (13th Guards, 105th Guards Vienna Airborne Division and 106th Airborne Division) and the 4th Guards Kantemirovskaya Tank Division. Among the 1957 reorganisations was the creation of the 23rd Guards Motor Rifle Division from the 23rd Guards Mechanized Division.
On 22 February 1968, for the large contribution to the cause of strengthening the defense of the state, for its successes in combat and political training, and in view of the 50th anniversary of the Soviet Army plus its important role in the 2nd World War, the District was awarded with the Order of Lenin.
In 1979 Scott and Scott reported the HQ address as being Moscow, A-252, Chapayevskiy Per., Dom 14.
Post-Soviet era (1991–2010)
With the collapse of the USSR the District became for the first time in its history a boundary district and thus a new priority was put on building up combat forces within it, rather than the training and capital garrison focus of the Soviet period.
In the early 1990s the District received the headquarters of the First Guards Tank Army from the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany. It was relocated to Smolensk, and consisted of the 4th Guards Tank Division and 144th Guards Motor Rifle Division (at Yelnya). In July 1992 the 336th Independent Helicopter Regiment returned from Germany to Oreshkovo airfield and was placed under the Moscow Military District. The regiment then came under 1st Guards Tank Army from 31 December 1992. The 1st Guards Tank Army's headquarters disbanded later in the 1990s, along with the 144th Guards MRD. In addition, the 6th Guards Motor Rifle Brigade was withdrawn from Germany and restationed at Kursk.
The 22nd Army Headquarters was reformed from 13th Army Corps in the early 1990s, to control the new 3rd Motor Rifle Division among other formations. The 22nd Army had previously been inactive for a long period; it was last operational immediately after the war (when it participated in the Second Rzhev-Sychevka Offensive in late 1942) when its HQ along with the 109th Rifle Division arrived in the South Ukraine in May 1945. In the Northern summer of 1945, together with the headquarters of the Separate Coastal Army, located in the Crimea, it was reorganised as the new but short-lived Tavria Military District.
On 1 June 1997 the 59th Guards Motor Rifle Division in Transdnestr, Moldova, was reorganised as the 8th Guards Independent Motor-Rifle Brigade with four motor-rifle battalions, one tank battalion, two artillery battalions, and an anti-tank battalion plus other combat support and support units.Оперативная группа российских войск в Приднестровском регионе Республики Молдова ; After several years reporting directly to the General Staff, the Operational Group of Russian Forces in Moldova was realigned under the command of the Moscow Military District in 1998.Andrew Duncan, Russia and Ukraine: restructuring for a new era, Jane's Intelligence Review, June 1998, p.5 Previously the 14th Guards Army (it was renamed in April 1995RAND, CF 129, Chapter 4 Trans-Dniestria ), forces and individuals from this command played a major part in the early 1990s in establishing and maintaining the Transnistrian separatists of the Transnistria as a viable de facto state.
In 1994 the 16th Air Army took over most air forces from the Air Forces of the Moscow Military District. In 2010, the district was merged with the Leningrad Military District to form the new Western Military District.
Recreation (2024–present)
On 21 December 2022, citing the influx of conscripts from the 2022 Russian mobilization, Russian Minister of Defence Sergei Shoigu announced that the Moscow Military District was being re-established, alongside the Leningrad Military District. On 20 March 2024, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced formation of the new 69th Motor Rifle Division and renewed 34th Guards Artillery Division as part of the Moscow Military District.
Cold war Order of battle c. 1989
Units directly subordinated to the District HQ District Command and Headquarters (Управление командующего и штаб) - Moscow, RSFSR 367th Separate Staff Security and Supply Battalion (367-й отдельный батальон охраны и обеспечения штаба) - Moscow 1st Separate Rifle Brigade for Security of the Ministry of Defence premises (1-я отдельная стрелковая бригада охраны МО) - Moscow (Feskov et al 2013, p505). Activated 1 October 1967 in Moscow, Moscow Oblast, from the 4th independent Regiment for Protection. 154th Separate Commandant's Regiment (154-й отдельный комендантский полк) - Moscow (Lefortovo District) 11th Separate Cavalry Regiment (11-й отдельный кавалерийский полк) - Alabino, Moscow Oblast, RSFSR (the regiment was a horse-riding display unit actually formed in 1962 at the suggestion of film director Sergei Bondarchuk for the filming of historical dramas) 16th Separate SpezNaz Brigade (16-я отдельная бригада специального назначения) - Chuchkovo, Ryazan Oblast, RSFSR 53rd Separate Radio-technical Brigade OsNaz (53-я отдельная радиотехническая бригада ОсНаз) - Kaluga, Kaluga Oblast, RSFSR (GRU formation operationally attached to the district) 312th Separate Radio-technical Regiment OsNaz (312-й отдельный радиотехнический полк ОсНаз) - Smolensk, Smolensk Oblast, RSFSR (GRU formation operationally attached to the district)