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| 106th Guards Tula Red Banner Orders of Kutuzov and Suvorov Airborne Division | |
|---|---|
| 106-я гвардейская воздушно-десантная Тульская Краснознамённая орденов Кутузова и Суворова дивизия | |
 106th Guards Airborne Division great emblem | |
| Active | 1944–present |
| Country |  Soviet Union(1944–1991)  Russia(1991–present) |
| Branch |  Russian Airborne Forces |
| Type | Airborne forces |
| Role | Light Infantry Airborne Infantry Airmobile infantry |
| Part of | .svg) Russian Armed Forces |
| Garrison/HQ |  Tula |
| Nickname | Tula Division |
| Mottos | Нет задач невыполнимых! (There are no impossible tasks!) |
| Anniversaries | 26 April |
| Engagements | |
| Decorations |  Guards Order of the Red Banner Order of Kutuzov.png) Order of Suvorov |
| Battle honours | Tula |
| Commanders | |
| Current commander | Maj. Gen.Alexander Nemolayev |
| Notable commanders | Lt. Gen.Alexander Lebed Col. Gen.Andrey Serdyukov |
| Insignia | |
| Sleeve patch |  |
The106th Guards Tula Red Banner Orders of Kutuzov and Suvorov Airborne Division (Russian:106-я гвардейская воздушно-десантная Тульская Краснознамённая орденов Кутузова и Суворова дивизия;MUN 55599), more generally referred to as theTula Division, is one of the fourairborne divisions of theRussian Airborne Troops, the VDV (Russian:Воздушно-десантные войска,romanized: Vozdushno-desantnye voyska). Based in the city ofTula, to the south ofMoscow, it is administratively located within theMoscow Military District.
The Division was founded in January 1944 as the 16th Guards Airborne Division, and from then until the end of theSecond World War fought inHungary,Austria andCzechoslovakia (including in Prague), mostly with38th Guards Rifle Corps of9th Guards Army. It became the 106th Guards Rifle Division in December 1944, as all the original VDVdivisions andbrigades were being reconstituted as Guards Rifle formations. The Division's honorifics are 'Red Banner, Order of Kutuzov',[1] though an early Western writer reported them as 'Dneipr-Transbaikal' seemingly incorrectly, at one point in its history.[2]
On 7 June 1946, the 106th Guards Rifle Division was converted to an airborne division at Tula, part of the new 38th Guards Airborne Corps. On 1 October 1948, the division's 347th Guards Air Landing Regiment was used to form the11th Guards Airborne Division. It was replaced by the new 51st Guards Air Landing Regiment, which became an airborne unit in 1949. On 5 May 1955, the137th Guards Airborne Regiment joined the division from the disbanded 11th Guards Airborne Division. On 6 January 1959, the 110th Separate Military-Transport Aviation Squadron was formed with the division, equipped with tenAntonov An-2 transports. On 15 August 1960, the 205th Guards Artillery Regiment became the 845th Separate Guards Artillery Battalion. At the same time, the 351st Guards Airborne Regiment transferred to the105th Guards Airborne Division and was replaced by the 105th's 331st Guards Airborne Regiment. On 27 April 1962, the 845th Separate Guards Artillery Battalion became the 1182nd Guards Artillery Regiment.[3]
As the attention of theSoviet leadership began to shift towards their ability to project force overseas, the need for a rapidly deployable force to spearhead large-scale operations became apparent and the VDV was once again built up as such an air assault force. The Tula Division, from that point until the present day, was to be one of the most frequently-used elements of it. Two of itsregiments took part in theSoviet–Afghan War. Asnationalist unrest grew in the southern republics of theUSSR throughout the end of the 1980s, the division was deployed toBaku,Azerbaijan, in 1988 and toFergana,Uzbekistan, in 1990. Throughout this time the division was commanded by GeneralAlexander Lebed.
In 1991, anattempted coup against theSoviet PresidentMikhail Gorbachev took place inMoscow. As the coup faltered, and the plotters lost the initiative while support forBoris Yeltsin, the President of theRussian SFSR, grew, the plotters called in reinforcements from the Tula Division, in the form of abattalion from the 137th Guards AirborneRegiment. When they arrived, Lebed stated that he had orders to secure theParliament building, where Yeltsin's supporters were barricaded. He did not, however, give the order for his men, equipped withBMD armoured vehicles, to launch an attack. This may have been because at that point in the coup, theTamanskaya Division was in the process of switching its own allegiance from the plotters to the parliamentarians, but whatever Lebed's rationale, the episode helped to boost his own public profile immensely. Following the failure of the coup and thedissolution of the Soviet Union, in 1992, he was appointed commander of the Russian14th Guards Army inMoldova.
The 119th Guards Airborne Regiment joined the division from the7th Guards Airborne Division in August 1993, replacing the 331st Guards Airborne Regiment, which had been transferred to the98th Guards Airborne Division.[3]
In 1994, theRussian Army was ordered into the breakaway southern republic ofChechnya by Yeltsin, thenPresident of the Russian Federation, after the refusal of theseparatist government tosurrender to Moscow's authority, beginning theFirst Chechen War. Battalions of the Tula Division were attached to 'Group West' (the western element of the three-prongedinvasion of Chechnya). They took part, in December that year, in the firstBattle of Grozny, helping to capture the city's centralrailway station, which had proved to be one of the most difficult and costly strategic points in Grozny for the Russians to capture.
In March 1995, the battalions were transferred to the command of 'Group North' and continued fighting, notably aroundArgun. In May, they withdrew from Chechnya. The division's losses in the first war are unclear: 36 of itssoldiers have been confirmedkilled in action, but the numbermissing in action is around 200.
TheSecond Chechen War began in 1999. With Moscow determined to avoid a repeat of the quagmire that the first war had become, the Russian force committed in 1999 was larger, better equipped and better organised. The Tula Division's contribution to that force was the 51st and 119thParachute LandingRegiments. Its losses in this war were still considerable but less than in the first: 67 of its soldiers were reported eitherkilled ormissing in action. For its actions in the second campaign, the Tula Division was awarded the MoD Pennant.
In 2001, after theSeptember 11 terrorist attacks in theUnited States,paratroopers from the division were sent toAfghanistan to evacuate the staff of theRussian embassy in Kabul, so as to ensure their safety in the face of theAmerican military campaign in support of theNorthern Alliance's advance towards the city.
In March 2000,Novaya Gazeta journalist Pavel Voloshin reported the account of Private Alexei P. (later identified as Pinyaev) of the137th Guards Airborne Regiment. Pinyaev guarded a storehouse with weapons and ammunition near the city of Ryazan. Together with a friend, he entered the storehouse to see the weapons. The friends were surprised to see that the storehouse contained sacks with the word "sugar" on them. Pinyaev and his friend were discouraged, but didn't want to leave the storehouse empty-handed. The two paratroopers cut a hole in one of the bags and put some sugar in a plastic bag. They made tea with the sugar, but the taste of the tea was terrible. They became frightened because the substance might turn out to be saltpeter, and brought the plastic bag to a platoon commander. He consulted a sapper, who identified the substance ashexogen.[4]
According toFelshtinsky andPribylovsky, after the newspaper report FSB officers descended on Pinyayev’s unit, accused them of divulging a state secret and told them, "You guys can't even imagine what serious business you’ve got yourselves tangled up in." The regiment later sued publishers ofNovaya Gazeta for insulting the honour of the Russian Army, since there was no Private Alexei Pinyayev in the regiment, according to their statement.[5]
A report aired byORT in March 2000 and created by journalist Leonid Grozin and operator Dmitry Vishnevoy accusedNovaya Gazeta of lying. According to Grozin and Vishnevoy, there is no storehouse at the test range of the 137th Regiment. Alexei Pinyaev has admitted meeting with Pavel Voloshin, but claimed that he was merely asked to confirm a pre-conceived story.[6]
At anFSB press conference in 2001, Private Pinyayev stated that there was no hexogen in the 137th Airborne Regiment and that he was hospitalised in December 1999 and no longer visited the test range.[7]
On 26 April 2004, the Tula Division celebrated its 60thanniversary.
In August 2014 the division's137th Guards Airborne Regiment participated in thewar in Donbas.[8]
On 13 August 2015, the division was given the honorific name "Tula".[9]
The division took part in the2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine but withdrew to Belarus at the end of March to be redeployed inValuyki at the Eastern war theatre.[10] Both the 51st Regiment and the 137th Regiment took part in thebattle of Bakhmut.[11] On 15 July 2023,Major generalVladimir Seliverstov, the Divisions commander, was dismissed of his command after appealing to the Russian military command for better conditions for his troops.[12]
On 4 July 2025, the division was awarded theOrder of Suvorov.[13]
In 2006, thesubordinateunits of the division were as follows:
By 2017 the division expanded and added further units and has the following composition.
In 2023 additional units were identified.
![106th Guards Airborne Division shoulder sleeve insignia (1993–2006)[20]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aRussian_106th_Airborne_Division_patch.svg)
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{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)Russian sources reported on July 15 that the Russian military command dismissed 106th Guards Airborne (VDV) Division Commander Major General Vladimir Seliverstov.
Media related to106th Guards Airborne Division at Wikimedia Commons
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