The 18th Motor Rifle Brigade was a motorized infantry brigade of the

Russian Ground Forces The Russian Ground Forces (), also known as the Russian Army in English, are the Army, land forces of the Russian Armed Forces. The primary responsibilities of the Russian Ground Forces are the protection of the state borders, combat on land, ...

from 1993 to 1998. It was originally formed in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

in the

Baltic Military District The Baltic Military District () was a military district of the Soviet Armed Forces in the Baltic states, formed shortly before the German invasion during World War II. After the end of the war the Kaliningrad Oblast was added to the District's co ...

in 1968 as the 107th Motor Rifle Division. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, it was withdrawn to

Solnechnogorsk Solnechnogorsk (, lit. ''sunny mountain town'') is a town and the administrative center of Solnechnogorsky District in Moscow Oblast, Russia, located on the Moscow–St. Petersburg Highway and the Moscow–St. Petersburg railway, on ...

and downsized to a brigade. The division's original

Military Unit Number A Military Unit Number (Russian: войсковая часть, в/ ч; Ukrainian: військова частина, в/ ч) is a numeric alternate designation for military units in the armed forces and internal troops of post-Soviet ...

was 22238. This became 40961 from 1993.

History

The 107th Motor Rifle Division was formed on 18 July 1968 in Vilnius, subordinated to the

. It replaced the 265th Motor Rifle Division, which was transferred to the

Far East The Far East is the geographical region that encompasses the easternmost portion of the Asian continent, including North Asia, North, East Asia, East and Southeast Asia. South Asia is sometimes also included in the definition of the term. In mod ...

. In 1972, its 597th Motor Rifle Regiment was used to form the 153rd Motor Rifle Division, a mobilization division, and was replaced by the 77th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment of the 26th Guards Motor Rifle Division. During the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

, the division was maintained at 15% strength. In January 1993, the division was withdrawn from Vilnius and moved to

in the

Moscow Military District The Order of Lenin Moscow Military District () is a Military districts of Russia, military district of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Originally it was a district of the Imperial Russian Army until the Russian Empire's collapse in 191 ...

. In February, it was downsized and became the 18th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade. The brigade was disbanded in June 1998.

Composition

In 1988, the 107th Motor Rifle Division was composed of the following units. All units were based in Vilnius unless noted. * 77th Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment * 660th Motorized Rifle Regiment ( Ukmerge) * 664th Motorized Rifle Regiment * 106th Tank Regiment * 379th Artillery Regiment * 384th Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment (Ukmerge) * 695th Separate Missile Battalion (Ukmerge) * 980th Separate Anti-Tank Artillery Battalion * 640th Separate Reconnaissance Battalion * 1298th Separate Engineer-Sapper Battalion (Ukmerge) * 1400th Separate Communications Battalion * 104th Separate Chemical Defence Company * 304th Separate Equipment Maintenance and Recovery Battalion * 401st Separate Medical Battalion (Ukmerge) * 1029th Separate Material Supply Battalion

References

{{Soviet Union divisions Military units and formations established in 1968 Military units and formations disestablished in 1993 Motor rifle divisions of the Soviet Union