The Armed Forces of Russia is a military state organization that is designed to repel possible aggression against Russia, to protect its territory and integrity and to carry out tasks in accordance with international treaties, of which Russia is one of the parties.
Its eastern borders are protected by the Eastern Military District, which will be discussed in this article.
Armed Forces of the Russian Federation
According to Business Insider magazine, sixty-nine million people can be mobilized into the Armed Forces of Russia. This is the second, after the United States, according to the same magazine, the number of places in the world.
The Supreme Commander of the RF Armed Forces is Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, President of Russia. The Ministry of Defense is the governing body of the Armed Forces. And the General Staff is the main organ of the military and operational command of the RF Armed Forces.
The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation are the basis of defense and ensuring the security of the state. It is impossible to overestimate the importance of a reliable army for the state, especially in such a difficult time for our country.
Therefore, in recent years, the number of military exercises has increased significantly, and the ongoing modernization of the troops and the supply of modern military equipment show the Russian army in a completely different capacity. Especially when compared with the fact that people around the world are used to talking about Russia in the nineties and at the beginning of the two thousandths.
The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation are divided territorially; they consist of four military districts: Central, Western, Southern and Eastern.
Eastern Military District: Basic Information
BBO (Eastern Military District) is a military-administrative association of the Armed Forces, formed as a result of the reform in 2008-2010, when four new ones were formed on the basis of the previous military districts.
The Eastern Military District is formed on the basis of the Far Eastern Region, which includes part of the Siberian Military District, as well as Transbaikal. It also included the Pacific Fleet, Air Force and Air Defense.
BBO territory
This county covers about forty-four percent of land and nearly one hundred and fifty million square miles in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is located in Buryatia, Yakutia, Kamchatka, Transbaikal, Khabarovsk and Primorsky Territories, in the Sakhatinsk, Magadan, Amur Regions, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, as well as the Jewish Autonomous Oblast.
On its territory there are three military educational institutions. This is the Suvorov School in the Primorsky Territory in the city of Ussuriysk, the Far Eastern Military Institute in Vladivostok and the Pacific Naval Institute, also located in Vladivostok.
History of the BBO
The Far Eastern Military District was founded on the thirty-first of July 1918, when the Red Army soldiers of the Ussuri Front defeated the forces of the White Guards. However, in August, Soviet power was overthrown and a guerrilla war was waged until 1920. The Far Eastern Republic was created on this territory in 1920 , and since 1922, after the Civil War, Soviet power was fully restored.
The revolutionary army at that time was renamed the Fifth Red Banner Army, whose headquarters was located in the city of Chita. And in 1924, all military units and institutions operating on the territory entered the Siberian Military District. In 1929, the troops of the Far East gained independence and began to be called the Special Red Banner Far Eastern Army.
In 1938, the danger of an attack on the territory of the Soviet Union by Japan increased significantly, the Army was transformed into the Far Eastern Front, the struggle of which showed the strength of the Russian spirit and real valor during the conflict.
During the Great Patriotic War, the troops of the Far East fought in many strategically important battles and hundreds of thousands were awarded for military services to the Fatherland.
After the war, the Far Eastern Front was transformed into military districts: Transbaikal-Amur, Primorsky and Far Eastern. In the post-war period, military districts in this territory underwent a number of qualitative transformations.
Throughout the history of the USSR, this eastern outpost has been of particular importance. In the Russian Federation, the value was no less. Despite the fact that the main task is to protect the eastern territory, the military personnel of the Far Eastern troops took part in the Chechen wars, for which more than a thousand soldiers were awarded.
Currently, the military districts have been transformed into one and have become known as the Eastern Military District.
BBO structure
VVO (Eastern Military District) consists of ground forces, airborne forces, marines, air forces, navy and air defense.
Ground Forces, Airborne Forces and Marines consist of:
- Unions and units of district subordination.
- The twenty-ninth and thirty-sixth combined arms armies.
- Fifth and thirty-fifth combined-arms Red Banner armies.
- Sixty-eighth Army Corps.
- Airborne in the form of the eighty-third and eleventh separate air assault brigades.
- Reconnaissance compounds.
- Parts of the marine corps, coastal defense.
Commander of the Eastern Military District
From July 2010 to October 2013, the commander was Admiral Konstantin Sidenko, who is currently retired.
He was born in 1953, studied at the naval school, served in a submarine. Over the years of his service, he was appointed division commander, chief of staff, commander of the Baltic, and then the Pacific Fleet.
He rose to the rank of admiral and in 2013 resigned.
Since October 2013, Colonel General Sergei Surovikin became the commander of the Eastern Military District.
Sergey Surovikin was born in 1966 in Novosibirsk. At the end of the combined-arms command school, he served in the army. In 1991, during a mission in Moscow, when three young people died, he was arrested and was under investigation for more than six months. But by personal order of Yeltsin, he was not only released from custody, but also promoted.
In 1995, he was implicated in the acquisition and sale of firearms, and in 2004 was accused of beating by Lieutenant Colonel Tsibizov. However, the guilt was disproved, and the charges dropped.
BBO Command
The commander of the troops of the Eastern Military District has in his operational subordination:
- Regional internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation.
- Border management.
- Far Eastern Law Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
- FSO special communication centers in the cities of Khabarovsk, Chita and Ulan-Ude.
BBO Headquarters
The headquarters of the Eastern Military District is located in the Khabarovsk Territory at the following address: index 680038, Khabarovsk-38, Serysheva street, 15.
BBO Troops Modernization Program
As in other military districts, the BBO (Eastern Military District) is undergoing a complete modernization, during which from 2011 to 2013 the old automotive equipment was completely replaced.
New models of aircraft are coming into service, as well as Ka-52, Mi-8, AMTSh, Mi-26 helicopters and Su-30 fighters of the 4+ generation. Re-equipment for S-400, "Tor" anti-aircraft missile systems, and "Shell" missile-gun systems.
In general, according to the state defense order, until 2020 more than thirteen thousand units of equipment are planned to be delivered to the Eastern Military District. In addition to the re-equipment of military units and units, basic military camps are being equipped and infrastructure facilities are being developed.
BBO exercises
In recent years, due to the aggravation of the foreign policy situation, in all districts of Russia the number of exercises has increased. So, in 2014, the exercises of the Eastern Military District were held jointly with Mongolia on its territory ("Selenga-2014"), as well as with China ("Peace Mission") in China. The Indra-2014 Russian-Indian exercises in the Pacific also passed.
The strategic exercises "Vostok-2014" were held on the territory of the military district. Russian troops showed a high level of combat readiness. Improved operational leadership and combat training of the military as a whole were noted.
In addition, in 2014, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief was declared a sudden check of Russian troops, according to which Defense Minister S. Shoigu reported to the president about the high level of training and improving the interaction of headquarters, commissariats and authorities, although it was recognized that certain shortcomings that had occurred earlier still persisted.
So, the administration of the Sakhalin Oblast was not ready to mobilize citizens from the reserve, as a result of which the task was not fully completed and it was solved at the expense of other constituent entities of the Russian Federation.
Battalion tactical groups and military equipment were transferred from the Western Military District to Sakhalin and the Khabarovsk Territory.
Mobilization bases were deployed in Primorsky, Kamchatka, Transbaikal and Khabarovsk territories, Sakhalin and Amur regions.
The state of affairs in the BBO today
Some believe that it is necessary to significantly change the grouping of forces and strengthen the Eastern Military District. The command should be carried out in such a way that the soldiers would be ready to fight for a long time without outside help if aggression by neighboring countries occurs. However, at the moment, the BBO troops are not ready for such a turn of events.
It is in this part that the military-political leadership of Russia should focus its main military potentials. After all, it has already been publicly announced that the main region where it is necessary to make all military efforts is East Asia. The military potential of Japan and the United States is much higher, therefore, with the possible aggression of these countries, the region becomes vulnerable. As military analyst A. Khramchikhin notes, it is necessary to remove all bases where equipment is stored from the Russian-Chinese border.
Nevertheless, it is assumed that in the coming years, equipping the BBO with the necessary equipment will be achieved.
According to Colonel Viktor Taraev, head of the BBO technical support department, the most important task now is to implement the armament program until 2020. It is necessary to establish the needs, quantity of equipment and the timing of its receipt for the BBO, actively interact with manufacturers and plan the supply of ammunition. At the same time, all personnel should be trained to work with new equipment and repair technicians should also be properly trained. Storage facilities are also being prepared.
In addition to work on its territory, the BBO also takes part in the restoration of military infrastructure, which is located on the territory of the Novosibirsk Islands and Yakutia. Together with the Western Military District, the runway of the Temp airfield on Kotelny Island, which is part of the archipelago, is being built, expanded and lengthened.
One cannot fail to note the active participation of the Eastern Military District in annual forest fires that destroy many hectares of forest. The military use their equipment and military transport aircraft to eliminate them .