Ресей Әуе десант әскерлері

Separate troops branch of the Russian Armed Forces

The Russian Airborne Forces (Воздушно десантные войска России, ВДВ) is the airborne forces branch of the Russian Armed Forces. It was formed in 1992 from units of the Soviet Airborne Forces that came under Russian control following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Troops of the Russian Airborne Forces have traditionally worn a blue beret and blue striped telnyashka undershirt and are called desant (Russian: Десант), from the French Descente. The Russian Airborne Forces utilizes a range of specialist airborne warfare vehicles and are fully mechanized. Traditionally they have had a larger complement of heavy weaponry than most contemporary airborne forces.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Russian Airborne Forces were reduced from seven divisions to five, which were the 7th, 76th, 98th, 104th, and 106th. Out of these, the 104th was disbanded, and the four existing divisions had their size reduced to only two regiments instead of three. A new unit was also formed, the 45th Separate Reconnaissance Regiment, which was subordinated to the GRU military intelligence for operations despite being part of the Airborne Forces. The VDV had about 35,000 personnel at this time. In 2006, the 7th and 76th were re designated as air assault divisions, while the 98th and 106th remained as airborne divisions. The main difference was that the latter still had the ability to parachute troops into a location while the air assault divisions would simply be transported there by aircraft. The 7th Division was also designated as a "mountain" air assault division. The 31st Separate Air Assault Brigade had all of its artillery and armored vehicles removed, which made it more comparable to a Western airborne unit. The 11th Air Assault Brigade in the Central Military District (formerly the Siberian Military District) and the 56th Air Assault Brigade in the Southern Military District (formerly the North Caucasus Military District) were partially infantry formations reporting directly to the military districts they are stationed in. The VDV's training institute is the Ryazan Institute for the Airborne Forces named for General of the Army V. F. Margelov. In addition, in the mid late 1990s, the former 345th Guards Airborne Regiment was stationed in Gudauta, Abkhazia AR, Georgia. It later became the 10th Independent Peacekeeping Airborne Regiment. The unit was further designated the 50th Military Base. In the early 1990s, General Pavel Catzilla, the first Russian Defence Minister, planned for the VDV to form the core of the planned Mobile Forces. This was announced in Krasnaya Zvezda, the Ministry of Defence's daily newspaper, in July 1992. However, the Mobile Forces plan was never enacted. The number of formations available for the force was far less than anticipated, since much of the Airborne Forces had been 'nationalised' by the republics their units had been previously based in, and other arms of service, such as the GRU and Military Transport Aviation, who were to provide the airlift component, were adamantly opposed to ceding control of their forces. From 1996 the VDV dispatched the 1st Airborne Brigade to Bosnia and Herzegovina as part of IFOR's Multi National Division North. The brigade, unusually, used Russian Ground Forces equipment such as BTR 80s. After an experimental period, the 104th Parachute Regiment of 76th Airborne Division became the first Russian Ground Forces regiment that was fully composed of professional soldiers (and not of srochniki – conscripted soldiers aged eighteen). It was announced that the 98th Airborne Division was also earmarked for contract manning, and by September 2006, it was confirmed that 95% of the units of the 98th Division had shifted to contract manning. With the reduction in forces after 1991, the 61st Air Army, Russia's military air transport force, has enough operational heavy transport aircraft to move one airborne division, manned at peacetime standards, in two and a half lifts. The single independent brigade, the 31st at Ulyanovsk, however, is not equipped with its own armor or artillery and may be equivalent to Western airborne troops in that it functions as light infantry, on foot when reaching their destination. The 31st was the former 104th Guards Airborne Division. VDV troops participated in the rapid deployment of Russian forces stationed in Bosnian city Ugljevik, in and around Pristina Airport during the Kosovo War. They also took part in the invasion of Chechnya as an active bridgehead for other forces to follow. Notable former Airborne Forces officers include Aleksandr Lebed, who was involved in responses to disorder in the Caucasus republics in the last years of the Soviet Union, and Pavel Grachev who went on to become the first Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation. On 26 May 2009 Lieutenant General Vladimir Anatolevich Shamanov became the commander of the VDV, replacing Lieutenant General Valeriy Yevtukhovich who was being discharged to the reserve. Shamanov had been decorated as a Hero of Russia for his combat role in the campaigns in Chechnya. His previous posts were as chief of the combat training directorate and commander of the 58th Army, and later chief of the main combat training directorate. Shamanov and the acting commander of the 106th Airborne Division were severely injured in a car crash on 30 October 2010, with the driver being killed. On 28 January 2010, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that the VDV's air components had been placed under the VVS. Under the 2008 reform programme, the four existing two regiment divisions should have been transformed into 7–8 air assault brigades. However, once General Shamanov became commander in chief of the Airborne Forces, it was decided to keep the original structure. The divisions were strengthened, becoming four independent airborne/air assault brigades, one for each military district. The 332nd School for Praporshchiks of the VDV (332 Школа прапорщиков ВДВ) in Moscow was disbanded in December 2009 (also under the 2008 reform programme, all praporshchik (WO) posts in the Russian Armed Forces were formally abolished). In October 2013 it was reported that the three airborne brigades under military district control (apparently the 11th and 83rd (Ulan Ude and Ussuriysk) in the Eastern Military District and the 56th at Kamyshin in the Southern Military District) would be returned to VDV command. The process was completed by July 2015. In October 2013, Commander in Chief of the VDV Vladimir Shamanov announced that a new air assault brigade would be formed in Voronezh in 2016 with the number of the 345th Guards Airborne Regiment. The establishment of the brigade was postponed to 2017–18, according to a June 2015 announcement. It was announced in July 2015 that plans called for the 31st Airborne Brigade to be expanded into the 104th Guards Airborne Division by 2023, and for an additional airborne regiment to be attached to each division. Elements of the 76th Guards Air Assault Division's 104th Guards Air Assault Regiment allegedly participated in the war in Donbas. These units allegedly were used as spearhead forces during the August 2014 DPR and LPR counteroffensive. During the August 2014 counteroffensive, battalion tactical groups of the 7th Guards Airborne Division's 247th Guards Air Assault Regiment, the 98th Guards Airborne Division's 331st Guards Airborne Regiment, the 106th Guards Airborne Division's 137th Guards Airborne Regiment, and the 31st Guards Air Assault Brigade allegedly were sent into Ukraine. Reconnaissance teams from the 45th Detached Reconnaissance Brigade and the 106th's 173rd Guards Separate Reconnaissance Company were previously deployed to Ukraine alongside Ground Forces units. In February 2016, it was reported that an airborne battalion would be permanently deployed to Dzhankoy, Crimea, in 2017–18, and upgraded to a regiment in 2020. In May 2017, Shamanov announced that the battalion would be formed at Feodosiya by 1 December 2017 as part of the 7th Guards Mountain Air Assault Division, and would be expanded into the 97th Air Assault Regiment with three battalions by late 2019. Since the 2014 annexation, the status of Crimea is under dispute between Russia and Ukraine; Ukraine and the majority of the international community considers Crimea an integral part of Ukraine, while Russia considers Crimea to be an integral part of Russia. In August 2016, Russian paratroopers placed 1st place in the Airborne Platoon competition during the International Army Games in Russia, defeating teams from China, Iran, Belarus, and Kazakhstan. On 4 October 2016, Colonel General Andrey Serdyukov was appointed commander of the Russian Airborne Forces, replacing Shamanov, who became chief of the Duma Committee on Defense. During 2016, three reconnaissance battalions and six tank companies, and two companies of electronic warfare and unmanned aerial vehicles were formed. 188 new and upgraded armored vehicles were delivered, with the Russian Airborne Forces equipment level of modern weapons at 47%. From 2015 to 2016 five intelligence units and six tank units have been formed, over 3,000 new pieces of weaponry and special military equipment were supplied, the number of contract servicemen had grown by 1.5 times, while the troops' training intensity had risen by 20 percent. The Russian Airborne Forces received over eleven thousand new and upgraded weapons in 2017. The share of modern armaments and hardware comprises 62 percent. In two years four battalion sets of 120 BMD 4M and BTR MDM Rakushka vehicles were supplied. Besides that, the force received over 100 upgraded weapons, including 2S9 1M self propelled guns. From 2015 to 2017 the air defense units received close to 500 modern automated reconnaissance and command complexes, new Verba portable missiles, and over 30 upgraded Strela 10MN missile complexes. On December 1, 2017, the organizational events to create a separate airborne assault battalion in Novorosiisk mountain division deployed in Feodosiya and a separate repairs and maintenance battalion in the Moscow region were completed. Contracted servicemen comprised over 70 percent of the troops. Barnaul T R&D produced a planning module paradropped to airborne units to simultaneously track a hundred air objects, and a paradroppable reconnaissance and command module to detect targets in a 40 km range, deployable in five minutes. State tests of a new Bakhcha U PDS parachute platform for the BMD 4M and BTR MDM vehicles were completed in May 2018. Deliveries of new 'heavy drop' systems PBS 950U and PBS 955 began in 2020. In 2019, two battalion sets of BMD 4M airborne combat vehicles and BTR MDM Rakushka armored personnel carriers, more than 200 units of various automotive equipment, including special armored vehicles, army snowmobiles, four wheelers and buggies and more than 9,000 parachute systems D 10 and "Arbalet 2" were delivered to the troops. In April 2020, military personnel from the Russian Airborne Forces, performed the world's first HALO paradrop from the lower border of the Arctic stratosphere. The Russian commando group used "next generation special purpose parachute system", military tested oxygen equipment, navigation devices, special equipment, and uniforms. This was the first high altitude landing in the Arctic latitudes over 10 km in the history of Russian aviation. As part of its mission in the Arctic region, the aircrew provided landing of airborne units from altitudes of 10 and 1.8 thousand meters, as well as landing of cargo with a total weight of about 18 tons. After conducting practical combat training, the Il 76 aircrews landed at the Nagurskoe airfield in the northern part of the island of Franz Josef Land. The high altitude landing was dedicated to the 75th anniversary of victory in the Great Patriotic war of 1941–1945, and the 90th anniversary of the formation of the Airborne troops. Two air assault regiments were set up in Pskov and Crimea as part of air assault divisions in 2021. The Russian Defense Ministry also accepted the Zavet D artillery fire control vehicle for the Airborne Forces. In 2021 2022, the Airborne Forces received about 30,000 sets of landing equipment and parachute systems. Sergey Shoigu claimed in September 2023 that VDV have received more than 2,000 hardware units and 5,500 landing means and also a new airborne regiment formed since the beginning of the year. The Russian Ministry of Defense said on 1 January 2024 that the VDV received during the past year over 2,500 units of weapons, military and special equipment, including more than 780 samples of "newest and contemporary ones". Among the newest samples were T 90M tanks and BMD 4M IFVs as well as BTR MDM "Rakushka" and BTR 82A APCs. It was also reported on 3 January that 20 military units were created in 2023, including the Ulyanovsk air assault division. About 16,000 landing means were also reportedly delivered and 1,000 more in the first quarter of 2024.

The VDV participated heavily in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In the opening hours of the invasion the VDV attempted to secure key airports and support assaults around Ukraine. These paratroopers were recognizable by the orange and black Saint George ribbons decorating their helmets and arms. The VDV landed troops with Mi 8 and Mi 17 helicopters to take the Hostomel Airport in northern Kyiv, in order to use the airport to airlift more troops and heavy equipment to take Kyiv as a form of forward "air bridge" that would enable rapid deployment of Russian forces far in advance of the Russian land front, in an action that became known as the Battle of Antonov Airport. Upon landing, the VDV troops at the airport engaged the Ukrainian National Guard's 4th Rapid Reaction Brigade, which with the help of the Ukrainian Air Force encircled the unsupported VDV troops and, with significant artillery fire support, forced the paratroopers to temporarily withdraw to nearby woods. The next day battle resumed, and the VDV conducted a renewed helicopter assault to land troops at the airport. Deploying around 200 helicopters and with support from the Ground Forces arriving from the north (Belarus and Chernobyl), they established Russian control over the airport. In the end, however, the Ukrainians claimed that the airport became too damaged from the battle to be used as an airstrip. 40 kilometers south of Kyiv in Vasylkiv, VDV paratroopers also dropped in an attempt to secure the Vasylkiv Air Base. Without any support from air or ground forces, the VDV troops in Vasylkiv were eventually encircled and were unsuccessful in achieving their objectives, giving victory in the Battle of Vasylkiv to the Ukrainians. On February 27, VDV troops with BMD 2s and BTR Ds were seen advancing south of Hostomel in Bucha. The VDV and Ground Forces' units were hit on the same day by Bayraktar air strikes. The Ukrainian government claimed that "more than 100 units of enemy equipment were destroyed”. On the following weeks the VDV served as mechanized infantry and light infantry during the Kyiv offensive. They attempted a raid on a local military hospital but were repelled by local Ukrainian forces. According to the UK Ministry of Defence in June 2023, Russia was redeploying regular military units to the Bakhmut sector following withdrawal of Wagner forces. These included elements of the 76th and 106th VDV divisions and two additional brigades. The MoD added that the VDV was much degraded from its pre invasion "elite" status.

On 3 March 2022, it was reported that Major General Andrei Sukhovetsky of the VDV's 7th Guards Mountain Air Assault Division, who was the appointed deputy commander of the 41st Combined Arms Army, was killed in action in Ukraine. His death is attributed to sniper fire either near Mariupol (which was besieged by Russian forces) or Hostomel during the Kyiv offensive. Ukrainian sources said he was killed on 2 March and his death was first confirmed on VKontakte by "Combat Brotherhood", a Russian veterans group, The VDV also joined the assault on the city of Mykolaiv during the Battle of Mykolaiv, but were pushed back by a Ukrainian counter offensive. On 18 March it was reported that Colonel Sergei Sukharev along with deputy Major Sergei Krylov of the 331st Guards Airborne Regiment had been killed during fighting in Mariupol. In late April, Bellingcat journalist Christo Grozev claimed that he "personally checked" and that Russia had lost "almost 90% of its best paratroopers" in the first echelon of the invasion. Many helicopters were shot down by Ukrainian defenses, and the paratroopers were stranded without armored vehicles or air support. In early May, the UK MoD claimed that the VDV units and other elite forces had suffered high losses and that it would "probably take years for Russia to reconstitute these forces." On 19 June 2022, it was reported by Odesa military civilian spokesperson Serhiy Bratchuk This was confirmed by Russian media reports. He was replaced by Colonel General Mikhail Teplinsky. According to BBC News Russian and the Mediazona news website, 1,937 VDV deaths had been documented by the end of August 2023, which included 340 officers, accounting for 6% of the 31,665 Russian fatalities who had been identified by name, and 8% of those who could identified by both name and service branch. UK intelligence estimate that around 30,000 paratroop forces were deployed to Ukraine in 2022 and that 50% of those have been killed or wounded by summer 2023. A Russian General in August 2023 stated that 3,500 wounded paratroopers had refused to leave the front for treatment and 5,000 had returned to the front after treatment. According to open source intelligence analysis website Oryx, as of 21 December 2023, at least 248 BMD 2, 101 BMD 4M, 83 BTR D and 11 unknown BTR D/BMD 2 have been lost in the invasion.