| Leningrad Military District | |
|---|---|
| Ленинградский военный округ | |
 Great emblem of the Leningrad Military District | |
| Founded | Historic: 6 August 1864 Current: 26 February 2024 |
| Country |  Russian Empire (1864–1917) RSFSR (1917–1922) Soviet Union (1922–1991)Russian Federation (1991–2010; 2024–present) |
| Branch |  Russian Ground Forces |
| Type | Military district |
| Part of | Ministry of Defence |
| Headquarters | General Staff Building,Saint Petersburg |
| Engagements | Russo-Turkish War of 1877–8 World War I October Revolution Russian Civil War World War II Russian invasion of Ukraine |
| Decorations |  Order of Lenin |
| Commanders | |
| Commander | Colonel GeneralYevgeny Nikiforov |
| Russian Armed Forces |
|---|
.svg) |
| Staff |
| Services (vid) |
| Independent troops (rod) |
| Special operations force (sof) |
| Other troops |
| Military districts |
| History of the Russian military |
TheOrder of Lenin Leningrad Military District (Russian:Ленингра́дский вое́нный о́круг) is amilitary district of theArmed Forces of the Russian Federation. The district was awarded theOrder of Lenin in 1968. In 2010, it was merged with theMoscow Military District, theNorthern Fleet and theBaltic Fleet to form the newWestern Military District. In December 2022,Defense MinisterSergey Shoigu proposed to reestablish it along with theMoscow Military District,[1] a decision confirmed in June 2023 byDeputy Chief of the General StaffYevgeny Burdinsky.[2] On December 17, 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced plans to recreate the Leningrad Military District as a reactionto Finland joining NATO.[3] The district was formally reconstituted on 26 February 2024 by a Presidential Decree No.141, transferring theNorthern Fleet under its command.[4]
It is one of fivemilitary districts of theRussian Armed Forces, with its jurisdiction primarily within the western central region ofEuropean Russia. The Leningrad Military District contains 11federal subjects of Russia: theRepublic of Karelia, theKomi Republic,Arkhangelsk,Vologda,Kaliningrad,Leningrad,Murmansk,Novgorod andPskovoblasts,Saint Petersburg, and theNenets Autonomous District. Additionally, the command contains most ofRussia's islands in theArctic Ocean, including those located in federal subjects not within the district. It lies in theNorthwestern Federal District.
Military units of the internal troops of theMinistry of Internal Affairs, theFSB Border Service of Russia, as well as units of theMinistry 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.[5]
Colonel GeneralAleksandr Lapin took over as the new district's commander on 16 May 2024.[6] On 21 September 2025, Colonel GeneralYevgeny Nikiforov was appointed as commander of the Leningrad Military District instead of Lapin.[7]
The district was founded in 1864 as thePetersburg Military District in theRussian Empire during the military district reform of that year. AfterWorld War I began Saint Petersburg was renamed Petrograd and the district also changed its name to the Petrograd Military District.
The Leningrad Military District was originally formed as thePetrograd Military District after theOctober Revolution of 1917 up to the beginning of the formation of theRed Army. The Petrograd District was reestablished as a part of theRed Army (RKKA) by an order of the Highest Military Council of 6 September 1918. On 1 February 1924, the Petrograd military district was renamed the Leningrad Military District when the city was renamed Leningrad. The district included Leningrad,Pskov, Novgorod, Olonets, Cherepovets, and Murmansk Governorates and the Karelian SSR. In 1927 the governorates were merged into the new Leningrad Oblast, with the territory of the district remaining the same between the wars.[8]
By 1935 the district included the1st Rifle Corps at Novgorod with the16th and56th Rifle Divisions, and the19th Rifle Corps at Leningrad with the 4th Turkestan and20th Rifle Divisions. The 19th Rifle Corps also included the Separate Karelian Rifle Brigade and Separate Murmansk Rifle Regiment.
Markian Popov was appointed District Commander in 1939. Its main purpose was the defence of the Kola Peninsula and the northern shores of the Gulf of Finland. On the right flank it bordered with theArkhangelsk Military District, on the left — with the Baltic MD. Among the defensive works started in the 1930s to protect the frontiers was theKarelian Fortified Region.
TheWinter War of 1939–40 withFinland prompted a close examination of the combat performance of the District's troops, and for the better control of the 7th and 13th Armies theNorth-Western Front was formed from the staff of the District on 7 January 1940. Three and a half months later the Front was dissolved back into the District headquarters.
On June 9, 1940, directive 02622ss/ov was given to the District bySemyon Timoshenko to be ready by June 12 to (a) capture the vessels of theEstonian, Latvian and Lithuanian Navy in their bases and/or at sea; (b) Capture the Estonian and Latvian commercial fleet and all other vessels; (c) Prepare for an invasion and landing in Tallinn andPaldiski; (d) Close theGulf of Riga and blockade the coasts of Estonia and Latvia in Gulf of Finland andBaltic Sea; (e) Prevent an evacuation of the Estonian and Latvian governments, military forces and assets; (f) Provide naval support for an invasion towardsRakvere; (g) Prevent the Estonian and Latvian airplanes flying either to Finland or Sweden.[9]
On 22 June 1941 the District comprised the7th Army, the14th Army, the23rd Army, the1st Mechanised Corps (-),177th Rifle Division,191st Rifle Division,8th Rifle Division, the 21st, 22nd, 25th, 29th Fortified Regions, Air Forces (six aviation divisions, including the 1st, 2nd, 5th, 39th, 41st, and55th), and other formations and units.[10]
Two days after theGerman invasion of the Soviet Union, on 24 June 1941, the District was reorganised as theNorthern Front, and two months later, on 23 August 1941, it was split into theLeningrad andKarelian Fronts. The Front's forces efforts played a major part in resisting the German attacks during theSiege of Leningrad.
By the joint efforts of troops of the Leningrad Front,Volkhov Front, and the 2nd Baltic Front during January 1944 theLeningrad–Novgorod Offensive ended the siege of the city. Pressing home the attack, the forces of the Leningrad Front in summer and in the fall of 1944 helped seizeEstonia,Latvia, andLithuania. The Front was reorganized under the Leningrad District into a peacetime status on 9 July 1945. MarshalLeonid Govorov took command shortly afterwards.
The reestablished district was responsible for the Estonian SSR, Leningrad, Pskov, and Novgorod Oblasts. Initially the district controlled two combined arms armies: the10th Guards in Estonia and the 23rd on theKarelian Isthmus. The 10th Guards Army was reduced to the 4th Guards Rifle Corps in April 1948, and that of the 23rd Army disbanded as a result of the postwar demobilization. The district was thus left with the 4th Guards Rifle Corps, the30th Guards Rifle Corps, the2nd Guards Tank Division, and the 1st and 2nd Machine Gun Artillery Divisions. Control of forces in the Estonian SSR, which included the4th Guards Rifle Corps with three divisions, was transferred to theBaltic Military District on 27 January 1956.[11]
By 1946 the2nd Guards Artillery Division had arrived atPushkin, which would be its headquarters for nearly the next fifty years.[12] The13th Air Army was the district air force component and was redesignated as the76th Air Army in 1949. General-Colonel of AviationFyodor Polynin was the first commander of the 76th Air Army.[13] Apart from a brief period when the air army was redesignated the Air Forces of the Leningrad Military District from 1980 to 1988,[11] the 76th Air Army would be active in the region until 1998.
In Arkhangelsk, Arkhangelsk Oblast, the 44th Special Rifle Corps was activated on 22 June 1956 from HQArkhangelsk Military District.
The 2nd Guards Tank Division was transferred to the district from the Estonian SSR in 1958, based atGarbolovo andVladimirsky Lager.[14]
In June 1957 44th Special Rifle Corps was renamed the 44th Special Army Corps. Three years later it comprised the 69th and 77th Motor Rifle Divisions. In August 1961, it was renamed the 44th Army Corps.
In May 1960 the Northern Military District, controlling forces in the Karelian and Komi ASSRs, and Arkhangelsk, Murmansk and Vologda Oblasts, was subsumed into the Leningrad Military District. Accordingly, Headquarters Northern Military District became Headquarters6th Combined Arms Army.[15] That year, the37th Guards Motor Rifle Division of the 30th Guards Army Corps was reorganized as the district's motor rifle training division, returning to its wartime designation as the 63rd Guards in 1964. In the late 1960s the 14th Separate Machine Gun Artillery Regiment of the 30th Guards Army Corps was used to create the mobilization 37th Motor Rifle Division.[16]
In 1962 the troops of the district participated inOperation Anadyr, the Soviet military deployment to Cuba that resulted in theCuban Missile Crisis. As a result oftensions with China in the late 1960s, the headquarters of the44th Army Corps, 2nd Guards Tank Division, the 279th Motor Rifle Regiment of the54th Motor Rifle Division and other units were sent to the Far East. In 1967 the 44th Army Corps was moved to theTransbaikal Military District and established its headquarters atUlan Ude.[17] New units were formed to replace them, with the 26th Army Corps headquarters replacing the 44th, and a reshuffling of units to replace the 279th Regiment: the 221st Guards Motor Rifle Regiment of the 77th Guards Motor Rifle Division replaced the 279th in the 54th Motor Rifle Division. In turn the new 481st Motor Rifle Regiment was formed to complete the 77th Guards. During the 1970s and 1980s the 6th Combined Arms Army and the 30th Guards and 26th Army Corps were based in the territory of the district.[11]
General, later Marshal,Sergei Sokolov assumed command in 1965. Marshal Sokolov later became the Minister of Defence in 1984. On 22 February 1968, in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the Soviet Army and for its successes in combat and in political training, the District was awarded theOrder of Lenin.[18]
On 3 June 1968 the District was placed on alert. TheNorwegian Army raised its alert levels in response. Within a couple of days the mobilized forces in the Leningrad region reached 11,000 soldiers, 4,000 naval infantry, 210 tanks, 500 troop transports, 265 self-propelled cannons, 1,300 logistics transports, 50 helicopters and 20Antonov An-12transport aircraft, all of which were staged in the Petchenga-Murmansk area near Norway.[19] On the evening of 7 June, the NorwegianGarnisonen i Sør-Varanger garrison heard the noise of powerful engines coming from the manoeuvres along the entire Soviet front of the Norwegian-Soviet border. Actual observations were not possible over the border in the dark. On that same night the GSV commanding officer ordered all GSV reserve forces to report to their emergency muster locations. The Soviet demonstration of strength lasted until 10 June, when the Soviet forces stood down.[19]
In 1979, Scott and Scott reported the headquarters address as Leningrad, L-13, Pod'ezdnoy Per., Dom 4.
In 1988 the district's forces were reported as consisting of the6th Army (Petrozavodsk) with the54th (Alakurtti),111th (Sortavala) and131st Motor Rifle Divisions, plus three zero-strength mobilisation divisions at Petrozavodsk, Alakurtti, and Nagornyy;[20] the 26th Army Corps atArkhangelsk, formed in 1967, with the69th (Vologda) and77th Guards Motor Rifle Divisions (Arkhangelsk), the 258th Separate Helicopter Squadron atLuostari/Pechenga airfield nearLuostari,[21] and other smaller units; the30th Guards Leningrad Red Banner Army Corps atVyborg, with the45th Guards Motor Rifle Division, the64th Guards Motor Rifle Division, and the37th Motor Rifle Division (a mobilisation division, the double of the 63 MRTD) atChernaya Rechka; and the 63rd Guards Training Motor Rifle Division, and the76th Guards Airborne Division, under district control.[22] AtGarbolovo ([60 20 14N, 30 29 55E]) there was the36th Air Assault Brigade (effectively an airmobile brigade), which had been activated in autumn 1979.[23]
By 1990 the district included 60,000 servicemen, 822 tanks, 2,000 armored fighting vehicles, 1,100 guns, mortars and MLRS systems, and 100 helicopters.[11]
The composition of the troops of the district was as follows:[24]
In December 1989, the77th Guards Motor Rifle Division Moscow-Chernigov was transformed into a coastal defense division of the same name, and the 69th Sevsk Motor Rifle Division in Vologda was transformed into the 5189th Base for Storage of Weapons and Equipment (Russian acronym VKhVT). Accordingly, in 1991, the 26th ("Arkhangelsk") Army Corps had more than a modest set of corps units and the 5189th BKhVT in Vologda. The 77th Guards Coastal Defence Division was then reorganised as a separate coastal defence brigade by 1 December 1994.
In 1989 V.I. Feskov et al. reported that the 71st MRD became the 5186th VKhVT, the 115th Guards became a storage base, and the Motor Rifle Division at Chernaya Rechka (the 37th, it was apparent later) was reduced to become the 3807th Base for Storage of Weapons and Equipment.
The 36th Landing-Assault Brigade was under district control until June 1990, when it was transferred to theSoviet Airborne Troops. Becoming part of theRussian Airborne Troops as the country dissolved, it was active until February 1997.
In 1990 the 63rd Guards became the56th Guards District Training Centre.[28]
In 1993 the 5189th Base for Storage of Weapons and Equipment was disbanded.
Thefall of the Soviet Union caused much reassessment of theRussian Federation’s military situation. During most of the 1990s, economic constraints greatly hampered military effectiveness. Several formations, such as the25th Guards Motor Rifle Brigade, formed on 1 January 1993 from the disbanding24th Tank Training Division atRiga, arrived in the district having been withdrawn from the formerBaltic Military District. Since 1992 many formations and units of the District have participated in local conflicts andpeace-keeping missions, especially in theNorth Caucasus.
The111th Motor Rifle Division (still part of 6th Army) was active until 1994, and then seemingly became the 20th Separate MR Bde, which became a VKhVT between January 1997 and June 1998.[29] As the 20th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade it shifted formations into the 30th Guards Army Corps. Also in 1994 the 5186th VkHVT at Petrozavodsk was seemingly upgraded into the 30th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade.[28]
In early December 1997, PresidentBoris Yeltsin said in Sweden that Russia would make unilateral reductions to forces in the northwest, which included the Leningrad Military District. He promised that land and naval units would be reduced by 40 per cent by January 1999.[30] In May 1999, whenRussian defense ministerMarshalIgor Sergeyev confirmed that the cuts had taken place, Sergeyev said that the personnel of the Leningrad Military District had been drawn down by 52 per cent.[31] In terms of formations, the series of disbandments left the district almost unrecognisable.[28] The6th Army’s staff atPetrozavodsk, the staff of the30th Guards Army Corps at Vyborg, and all the motor rifle divisions previously in the district disbanded (including the 54th Guards MRD, reduced in size to a brigade and then which became a storage base, and the 64th Guards, reduced to a storage base). Left in their place were a number of weapons and equipment storage sites, and two motor rifle brigades (between January 1997 and June 1998 the 45th Guards MRD was reduced in size to become the138th Guards Motor Rifle Brigade, and the 131st was reduced in size to become the200th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade).[32]
In terms of air forces, after the collapse of the Soviet Union the 76th Army of theSoviet Air Forces and the6th Air Army of theSoviet Air Defence Forces, were left operating in the district. The two forces were merged as the 6th Army of VVS and PVO in 1998.[33]
The138th Guards Motor Rifle Brigade at Kamenka was deployed for operations during theSecond Chechen War, in which, along with otherRussian Ground Forces units, its personnel was reported to have behaved badly at times.[34] A 22-year-old woman in Ingushetia was shot by drunken soldiers from the brigade scavenging for alcohol. The deployment of a tank battalion of the brigade was apparently halted when it was
discovered that soldiers had been selling the explosive from their tanks'reactive armour.The second fully operational brigade in the district, the 200th Motor Rifle Brigade descends from theWorld War II-era45th Rifle Division, which later became the 131st Motor Rifle Division.
In 2006–07, the 35th Base for Storage of Weapons & Equipment, the former54th Motor Rifle Division atAlakurtti, was disbanded.[35]
TheRussian Airborne Troops'76th Air Assault Division was also based within the district's boundaries, atPskov.
Presidential Decree 900 dated July 27, 1998 gave the District's composition as theRepublic of Karelia, theKomi Republic,Arkhangelsk,Vologda,Leningrad,Murmansk,Novgorod, andPskov oblasts,Saint Petersburg, and theNenets Autonomous Okrug. The district headquarters is now in theGeneral Staff Building onPalace Square inSaint Petersburg.
General LieutenantNikolai Bogdanovsky, commanded the district, between March 2009 and September 2010. On the abolition of the district General Bogdansky became Deputy Commander of theRussian Ground Forces.
Order of Lenin Leningrad Military District in 2010:
In 2024, after theRussian invasion of Ukraine the district was reestablished. Since the middle of January 2024, theNorthern Fleet lost its status as a military-administrative unit in line with a military district,[37] and the territory it administered became part of the Leningrad Military District once more.[38]
In March 2024, Shoigu announced that another new district's army corps (44th Army Corps, which is already in action inKharkiv Oblast), would be formed through the year.[38] The reforms also include reinforcement of the11th Army Corps and14th Army Corps into armies. All of the new or reinforced formations will be based within the Leningrad Military District.[38]
On 2 September, 2024, it was announced that the district's deputy commander,Valery Mumindzhanov, a Shoigu loyalist, was arrested on corruption charges as part of an apparent purge byAndrey Belousov.[39][40]
As of 2024 ground combat units deployed within the 11th Corps include:
During its existence, the district was commanded by the following officers:
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