The Rondeli Foundation’s Russian Military Transformation Tracker has been reporting structural changes in the Russian military since August 2018.
Issue 9 of the Tracker covers changes in the Russian military structure in the period of 16 December 2023-15 June 2024.
The Western Frontier (Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, and the Russian border area with the first two countries)
Existence of a newly established 263rd Mechanized Brigade was reported in January 2024. It was unclear to which larger units the new brigade belonged, or which base in Russia had been assigned to it. The brigade was deployed on the border with Ukraine.
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Russian sources reported in April 2024 that 169th Mechanized Brigade and 73rd Artillery Brigade had been established in 2023.
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88th Mechanized Brigade of the 2nd Army Corps (HQ in Luhansk, occupied part of Ukraine), existence of which had previously been noted in November 2023, was reported by Russian sources in April 2024 to actually have been established by September 2022.
They also reported establishment of 85th Mechanized Brigade by September 2022.
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It emerged that 4th Mechanized Brigade (Alchevsk, Luhansk Oblast, occupied part of Ukraine) of the 2nd Army Corps had been renamed into 124th Mechanized Brigade.
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In March 2024, Russia announced it had recently established the Dnieper Flotilla in the south of Ukraine’s Russian-occupied territory. That same month, the Russian media reported existence of a self-propelled coastal artillery unit within the flotilla, armed with Bereg self-propelled coastal artillery guns. According to the same report, naval infantry and special forces units were in the process of being established under the flotilla’s command.
In April 2024, the Russian media reported plans to transfer military transport planes and helicopters to the Dnieper Flotilla.
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52nd Artillery Brigade, established within the Russian Airborne Forces in the first half of 2023 as indicated in Issue 8 of the Tracker, was reported to be based in Krasnodar Krai.
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On 12 June 2024, the head of Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence agency, Kyrylo Budanov, stated that Russia had placed some of the new S-500 surface-to-air missile systems in occupied Crimea, Ukraine.
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Existence of 474th Separate Anti-Aircraft Missile Battalion within the 18th Army’s 70th Mechanized Division (Rostov Oblast) was noted in unofficial Russian sources in January 2024.
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A number of the Black Sea Fleet’s ships were destroyed by the Ukrainians in the process of the Russo-Ukrainian War.
Project 22800 Karakurt class corvette Tsiklon, which had just joined the Russian navy and the Black Sea Fleet in July 2023, was destroyed at the Sevastopol naval base by a Ukrainian ATACMS strike on 19 May 2024.
Tarantul / Project 12411 class corvette R-334 Ivanovets was sunk by Ukrainian maritime drones near the western coast of Crimea on 1 February 2024.
Project 22160 class large patrol ship Sergey Kotov, which had joined the Russian navy and the Black Sea Fleet in May 2022, was sunk by Ukrainian maritime drones near Kerch, occupied Crimea, on 5 March 2024.
Ropucha / Project 775 class landing ship Caesar Kunikov was sunk by Ukrainian maritime drones near the coast of Crimea on 14 February 2024.
Ropucha / Project 775 class landing ship Novocherkassk was destroyed by the Ukrainian air force while at the Feodosia naval base in Crimea in late December 2023.
To see the whole issue click here: Russian Military Transformation Tracker, Issue 9: From 16 December 2023 to 15 June 2024
See links to the Tracker and other materials on the Other Work page.
Check out all posts about new issues of the Tracker on a special category page.
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