The 22nd Guards Army was a

field army A field army (also known as numbered army or simply army) is a military formation in many armed forces, composed of two or more corps. It may be subordinate to an army group. Air army, Air armies are the equivalent formations in air forces, and ...

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, ...

, part of 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 ...

. It was active from 1990 to 2009. The order for the formation's dissolution was signed by the Minister of Defence on 1 June 2009. It was formed in 1990 as the 22nd Guards Army from an army corps.

History

The 22nd Guards Army headquarters was redesignated from the previous 13th Guards Army Corps in 1990 in the

Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət, t=Lower Newtown; colloquially shortened to Nizhny) is a city and the administrative centre of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast an ...

, as the 22nd Guards Konigsberg Red Banner Army, inheriting the awards and honorifics of the corps. Initially it controlled the 31st Tank Division, withdrawn from the Central Group of Forces in Czechoslovakia and the 47th Guards Tank Division formerly from the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany, as well as the 166th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade (

Tver Tver (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative centre of Tver Oblast, Russia. It is situated at the confluence of the Volga and Tvertsa rivers. Tver is located northwest of Moscow. Population: The city is ...

) (which was formerly the 6th Guards Motor Rifle Division with the

Northern Group of Forces The Northern Group of Armed Forces (; ) was the military formation of the Soviet Army (Russian Ground Forces starting 1992) stationed in Poland from the end of Second World War in 1945 until 1993 when they were withdrawn in the aftermath of the fa ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

), the 211th Artillery Brigade, the 918th Multiple Rocket Launcher Regiment (both at Mulino), and two helicopter regiments. However, manpower levels were low; the tank divisions were reported to be at an establishment of 2,193 each and the 166th Motor Rifle Brigade at 3,638. By June 1998 the two tank divisions had been merged as the new 3rd Motor Rifle Division, and the new division was designated at as 'constant readiness' formation, to be maintained at at least 80% strength. Also, the 166th Motor Rifle Brigade has now been reduced to a storage base as the 70th Base for Storage of Weapons and Equipment (VkhVT).

Composition in 2000s

*Headquarters -

** 3rd Motor Rifle Division - Mulino (Nizhny Novgorod) ** 50th Rocket Brigade - Shuya (

OTR-21 Tochka OTR-21 ''Tochka'' () is a Soviet Union, Soviet tactical ballistic missile. Its GRAU designation is 9K79. Its NATO reporting name is the SS-21 Scarab. One missile is transported per 9P129 vehicle and raised prior to launch. It uses an inertial gu ...

-U surface to surface missiles) ** 211th Artillery Brigade — Mulino ** 5th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Brigade - Shuya ** 918th Multiple Rocket Launcher Regiment;— Mulino ** 490th Separate Combat Control Helicopter Regiment (490 OVP BU) (Mi-24, Mi-8) (Tula - Klokovo, Tula Oblast) ** 214th Separate Helicopter Squadron (214 OVE) (Mi-24, Mi-8) (Kursk) ** 253rd Separate Helicopter Squadron (253 OVE) (Mi-24, Mi-8) (Kostroma) ** 70th 'Vitebsko-Novgorod' Armament Storage Base (former 166th 'Vitebsko-Novgorod' Guards Separate Motor Rifle Brigade/6th GMRD) (Tver) ** 1174th Armament Storage Base (New Smolino, Nizhni Novgorod Oblast) ** 6325th Armament Storage Base (Vyazniki, Vladimir Oblast) ** 22nd Central Base for the Reserve and Repair of Tanks (V/Ch 42713) (T-80U/UM/UD, BTR-80) ( Buy, Kostroma Oblast) ** other auxiliary brigades and regiments General Alexey Merkuryev was the army commander in 2004. The 3rd Motor Rifle Division and the storage base at Tver were identified as the main formations of the army in mid-2005. The army headquarters was disbanded on 1 June 2009, as part of wider reforms of the Russian Ground Forces, and the 20th Guards Army headquarters moved to the 22nd Army's old base at Mulino in August 2010.

References

* * {{Armies of the Russian Armed Forces 022 Military units and formations established in 1990 Military units and formations disestablished in 2009 Armies of the Russian Federation Guards Armies