Map showing main military units of the Belarusian Armed Forces
TheWestern Operational Command (ZOK) is acommand of theBelarus Ground Forces. It is headquartered inGrodno. It is composed of two Mechanized Brigades and an artillery brigade. The command was created in 2001 from the 28th Army Corps, the former28th Army.[3]
The Western Operational Command traces its lineage back to the Soviet 28th Army. In July 1945, the 28th Army headquarters was relocated toGrodno. By 1988, the army was composed of the6th Guards Tank Division,28th Tank Division,50th Guards Motor Rifle Division and the 514th Territorial Training Center. On 20 March 1992, the army was taken over by Belarus.[4] In 1993, the 28th Army was downsized to become the 28th Army Corps. In 1994, the 50th Division became a separate mechanized brigade, and was further reduced to a storage base in 2001, then finally disbanded in 2006.[5] The Western Operational Command was created in December 2001 from the 28th Army Corps.[3] It participated in the exercises "Neman-2001", "Berezina-2002", "Chistoye Nebo-2003", "Shchit Otechestva-2004", "Shchit Soyuza-2006", "Zapad-2009", "Shchit Soyuza-2011" and the joint strategic exercises withRussian military units "Zapad-2013".[6][7] In 2015, Colonel Viktor Hrenin (former deputy commander of the command)[8] became the command's head and Colonel Oleg Melnikov was appointed chief of staff of the command.[3]
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Military units and formations of theArmed Forces of Belarus