The Red Banner Eastern Border District (''Краснознамённый Восточный пограничный округ'') (KВPO) - was a military-administrative district of the KGB Border Guard. The district had its headquarters in

Almaty Almaty, formerly Alma-Ata, is the List of most populous cities in Kazakhstan, largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population exceeding two million residents within its metropolitan area. Located in the foothills of the Trans-Ili Alatau mountains ...

. It guarded the western part of the Chinese-Soviet border and a small section of the Afghan-Soviet border along the

Wakhan District Wakhan District is one of the 28 districts of Badakhshan province in eastern Afghanistan. Located between Tajikistan in the north and Pakistan's Gilgit-Baltistan and Chitral District in the south, the district separates Tajikistan and Pakistan wh ...

, after which began the terrain of the Red Banner

Central Asian Border District The Red Banner Central Asian Border District (Russian language, Russian: ''Краснознамённый Среднеазиатский пограничный округ'') was a district of the Soviet KGB Border Guards. It had its headquarters in ...

. On May 28, 1918, the Decree on the creation of the border guard of the

Soviet Republic A soviet republic (from ), also called council republic, is a republic in which the government is formed of soviets (workers' councils) and politics are based on soviet democracy. During the Revolutions of 1917–1923, various revolutionary ...

was signed. After the end of the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

, the ''Turkestan Border Division'' was created by the end of 1920. In November 1920, this division was deployed from the Caspian Sea to the Altai Mountains. The Turkestan border division included regiments, brigades and cavalry squadrons, each covering an area of responsibility for the state border. In 1923, during the reform of border troops, border departments were created as part of border guard units created under administrative-territorial units (

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

s). These formations were subordinate to the head of the border guard unit of the plenipotentiary representative of the

State Political Directorate The State Political Directorate (), abbreviated as GPU (), was the secret police of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic from February 1922 to November 1923. It was the immediate successor of the Cheka, and was replaced by the Joint ...

(GPU) provincial detachments. In February 1924, in the course of further reform of the border troops, border detachments and commandant's offices were created on the basis of border departments and border units, which included border outposts. After the German

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along ...

began in July 1941, massive numbers of the border and Internal Troops of the NKVD were sent to the (the troops fighting on the frontline). For example, by June 26, 1941, 31 commanders of the Zaysan border detachment were appointed to the corresponding positions in the 942nd Infantry Regiment,

268th Rifle Division The 268th Rifle Division () was an infantry division of the Soviet Union's Red Army during World War II. Formed in the summer of 1941, the 268th fought on the Leningrad Front until the end of the siege of Leningrad in 1944. In June and July of th ...

, which at the end the following month entered into battle as part of the 8th Army. In 1991 the Border Troops numbered ten Border Districts.{{Cite web, last= Mzareulov , first=Valentin , title=Пограничныe войска , url=http://shieldandsword.mozohin.ru/kgb5491/troops/border_guard.htm , website=History, Organizational structure and Personnel of the Security Agencies (VChK-KGB), Military Intelligence and Law Enforcement Agencies of the USSR (1917 - 1991), access-date=2019-10-20 The troops of the Eastern Border District included: Land units: * 134th ''Kurchumskiy'' Border Detachment (''134-й ПОГО'') —

Kurshim Kurshim, also Kurchum or Kurchim (, ''Kürşım'') is a selo and administrative center of Kurshim District of East Kazakhstan Region, Kazakhstan. Population: The Kurchum River flows past the town and Lake Zaysan lies to the south. The town l ...

Kazakh SSR The Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, also known as Soviet Kazakhstan, the Kazakh SSR, KSSR, or simply Kazakhstan, was one of the transcontinental constituent republics of the Soviet Union (USSR) from 1936 to 1991. Located in northern Centr ...

* 50th ''Zaysanskiy'' Краснознаменный Border Detachment (''50-й ПОГО'') —

Zaysan Zaysan or Zaisan (Cyrillic Alphabet, Cyrillic: Зайсан) can refer to: *Lake Zaysan in eastern Kazakhstan *Zaysan (town) or Zaisan, Kazakhstan *Zaysan District in East Kazakhstan Province, Kazakhstan *Zaisan Memorial in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia {{ ...

* 30th ''Makanchinskiy'' Краснознаменный Border Detachment (''30-й ПОГО'') — Makanchi,

* 130th ''Uch-Aaralskiy'' Border Detachment (''130-й ПОГО'') —

Usharal Usharal or Üşaral (, ''Üşaral''; ) is a town in the Alakol District of Jetisu Region in south-eastern Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazak ...

* 49th ''Panfilovskiy'' Краснознаменный Border Detachment (''49-й ПОГО'') —

Zharkent Jarkent (; ) is a city which serves as the administrative center of Panfilov District in Jetisu Region, southeastern Kazakhstan. It is located near the Usek River, not far from the Ili River. It is also right by the border with Xinjiang, China. T ...

* 132nd ''Chundzhinskiy'' Border Detachment (''132-й ПОГО'') — Chundzha,

* 29th ''Przhevalskiy'' Border Detachment (''29-й ПОГО'') —

Karakol Karakol (; , ), formerly Przhevalsk ( rus, Пржевальск, p=pr̩ʐɨˈvalʲsk), is the fourth-largest city in Kyrgyzstan, near the eastern tip of Lake Issyk-Kul, about from the Kyrgyzstan–China border and from the capital Bishkek. I ...

Kirghiz SSR The Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic (Kirghiz SSR), also known as the Kyrgyz Soviet Socialist Republic (Kyrgyz SSR), KySSR or Kirgiz Soviet Socialist Republic (Kirgiz SSR), was one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union (USSR) from 1 ...

* 96th ''Narynskiy'' Border Detachment (''96-й ПОГО'') —

Naryn Naryn ( ; ) is the regional administrative center of Naryn Region in central Kyrgyzstan. Its area is , and its estimated population was 41,178 as of January 2021. The town was established as a fortress on the caravan route in 1868. It is situated ...

* 131st ''Oshskiy'' Border Detachment (''131-й ПОГО'') —

Osh Osh is a city in Kyrgyzstan. Osh or OSH may also refer to: * Osh (food), in Tajik and Uzbek cuisines * Osh (singer) (born 1995), English singer and rapper * OSH, the IATA code for Wittman Regional Airport near Oshkosh, Wisconsin, United States ...

* 35th ''Murghabskiy'' Border Detachment (''35-й ПОГО'') — Murghab,

Tajik SSR The Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic, also commonly known as Soviet Tajikistan, the Tajik SSR, TaSSR, or simply Tajikistan, was one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union which existed from 1929 to 1991 in Central Asia. The Tajik Re ...

Naval units: (no naval units) Air units: * 10th Separate Aviation Regiment (''10-й ОАП'') — Almaty – Burunday Airfield * 22nd Separate Aviation Squadron (''22-я ОАЭ'') —

Airfield

References

Soviet Border Troops Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner China–Soviet Union border Afghanistan–Soviet Union border