The 37th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Don Cossack Budapest Red Banner Order of the Red Star Brigade named after Ye. A. Shchadenko is a motor rifle brigade of the Russian Ground Forces ( Military Unit Number 69647). It is stationed at Kyakhta in

Buryatia Buryatia, officially the Republic of Buryatia (russian: Республика Бурятия, r=Respublika Buryatiya, p=rʲɪsˈpublʲɪkə bʊˈrʲætʲɪjə; bua, Буряад Улас, Buryaad Ulas, , mn, Буриад Улс, Buriad Uls), is ...

, part of the

36th Combined Arms Army The 36th Combined Arms Army is a combined arms (field army, field) army of the Russian Ground Forces, part of the Eastern Military District (Military Unit Number 05776). History The army was formed in 1997 from the 55th Army Corps (Russia), 55t ...

of the

Eastern Military District The Eastern Military District (Russian: Восточный военный округ) is a military district of Russia. It is one of the five military districts of the Russian Armed Forces, with its jurisdiction within the Far Eastern Federal ...

. The brigade fought in the War in Donbas and the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

Components

Due to its location in

Kiakhta Kyakhta (russian: Кя́хта, ; bua, Хяагта, Khiaagta, ; mn, Хиагт, Hiagt, ) is a town and the administrative center of Kyakhtinsky District in the Republic of Buryatia, Russia, located on the Kyakhta River near the Mongolia–Russi ...

, this brigade has a high percentage of Buryat and other ethnic minority servicemen, many of whom adhere to Tibetan Buddhism. As a result, by 2021 it was the only Russian military unit with a Buddhist lama serving as a

military chaplain A military chaplain ministers to military personnel and, in most cases, their families and civilians working for the military. In some cases they will also work with local civilians within a military area of operations. Although the term '' ch ...

. The brigade included more than 200 tracked vehicles and more than 100 wheeled vehicles in 2013. According to 2015 data, the brigade was equipped with 40

T-72B3 The T-72 is a Soviet-designed main battle tank that entered production in 1971. It replaced the T-54/55 series as the workhorse of Soviet tank forces (while the T-64 and T-80 served as the Soviet high-technology tanks). In front-line Russian ...

, 1 T-72BK, 120 BMP-2, 15 MT-LB, 18 BM 2B17-1

Tornado-G The Tornado is a family of related multiple rocket launchers developed by NPO Splav for the Russian Ground Forces. Variants of the system, which include the Tornado-G and Tornado-S models, have different capabilities and different battlefield role ...

, 36 2S3M Akatsiya 152mm howitzers, 18 120mm mortar

2S12 Sani The 2S12 "Sani" ("sleigh") (GRAU index 2S12) is a 120 mm heavy mortar system used by the Russian Army and other former Soviet states. First fielded in 1981, the 2S12 is a continued development on the towed mortars first used in World War II ...

, 6 100 mm MT-12 Rapira, 12 9K114 Shturm-S, 36 BTR-80, 12 BM 9A33BM2(3)

Osa Osa or OSA may refer to: Places * Osa Peninsula, a peninsula in Costa Rica * Osa (canton), a canton in the province of Puntarenas in Costa Rica * Osa Conservation Area, an administrative area in Costa Rica * Osa, India, a village in Allahabad, I ...

, 6 BM 9A34(35) Strela-10, and 6 ZSU 23-4 Shilka.

History

On 1 June 2009, the

5th Guards Tank Division The 5th Guards Tank Division was an armored division of the Soviet Ground Forces and Russian Ground Forces, active from 1945 to 2009, in two different formations. First Formation The 5th Guards "Stalingradsko-Kievskaya Order of Lenin Red Banner ...

became the 37th Guards Motor Rifle Brigade, as part of the

2008 Russian military reform The Serdyukov reform (), named after its originator, Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, was a major structural reorganisation of the Russian Armed Forces that began in 2009. Significant reforms of the Russian Armed Forces were announced in Oc ...

s. The 5th Guards Tank Division (Second Formation) itself dated to 1965, and its predecessor

5th Guards Cavalry Corps The 5th Guards Don Cossack Cavalry Corps () was a cavalry corps of the Red Army during World War II. History The corps was formed on 19 November 1942 as the 5th Guards Don Cossack Cavalry Corps, assigned to the Northern Group of Forces of the ...

to 1942.

Donbass (2014-2022)

Elements of the brigade fought in the War in Donbas and were located in the Northern operational area in February 2015. The 37th's troops fought in the

Battle of Debaltseve The Battle of Debaltseve was a military confrontation in the city of Debaltseve, Donetsk Oblast, between the pro-Russian separatist forces of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People's Republic (LPR), and the Ukrainian Armed Force ...

during this time, where their heavy equipment and weaponry was crucial to the defeat of Ukrainian forces in the battle. In September 2016, a conscript from the brigade was run over by a Kamaz truck while sleeping during an exercise. A large number of incidents and deaths in the brigade were reported during the 2010s, including two court cases involving beatings by superiors, suicides, and accidental shootings. Conscripts of the brigade repeatedly complained to the Commissioner for Human Rights of Buryatia regarding extortion by the unit before their demobilization, poor clothing, and inadequate medical care.

Russian invasion of Ukraine

The brigade was committed to the

. Elements of the brigade participated in the Kyiv offensive. On 23 March, Ukrainian journalist Roman Tsimbalyuk posted a video showing brigade commander Colonel Yuri Medvedev being evacuated after having been run over by his own troops due to reportedly being dissatisfied with the about 50 percent casualties that the unit had suffered during their fight at the

battle of Makariv The battle of Makariv was a military engagement in the town of Makariv in Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine, that happened during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. The battle lasted from 27 February 2022 to 25 March 2022, the last day that fighting was r ...

. Colonel Medvedev later died in hospital. This was widely repeated by Western intelligence officials as a sign of widespread Russian demoralization during the war. After the Russian retreat from Kyiv Oblast, the brigade was redeployed to eastern Ukraine. On 20 April, residents of Kyakhta, the city of the unit's garrison, purchased a

quadrocopter A quadcopter or quadrotor is a type of helicopter with four rotors. Although quadrotor helicopters and convertiplanes have long been flown experimentally, the configuration remained a curiosity until the arrival of the modern UAV or drone. T ...

UAV to be sent to the brigade in Ukraine using funds from a donation drive. Elements of the 37th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade are suspected of participation to war crimes in Motyzhyn near Bucha during

.Crimes de guerre : le visage des bourreaux
Complément d'enquête, France 2, 23 juin 2022

Structure

The brigade includes: * Headquarters * 1st, 2nd, 3rd motor rifle battalions * Rifle company (sniper) * Tank battalion * 1st and 2nd self-propelled howitzer battalions * Reactive Artillery Battalion * Anti-Tank Artillery Battalion * Anti-Aircraft Missile Battalion * Anti-Aircraft Missile Artillery Battalion * Reconnaissance Battalion * Engineer Battalion * Chemical Defense Company * Headquarters Battalion (communications) * UAV company * Electronic Warfare Company * Headquarters and artillery reconnaissance battery (chief of artillery) * Repair and Recovery Battalion * Materiel Support Battalion * Commandant's Company * Medical Company

Notes

References

{{Brigades of the Russian Ground Forces Mechanised infantry brigades of Russia