The 38th Separate Guards Air Assault Brigade is a

Special forces Special forces and special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...

brigade of the

Armed Forces of Belarus The Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus (, ) consist of the Ground Forces and the Air Force and Air Defence Forces, all under the command of the Republic of Belarus Ministry of Defence. Being a landlocked country, Belarus has no navy. In 20 ...

. It is currently based in

Brest Brest may refer to: Places *Brest, Belarus **Brest Region **Brest Airport **Brest Fortress *Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria *Břest, Czech Republic *Brest, France **Arrondissement of Brest **Brest Bretagne Airport ** Château de Brest *Brest, ...

. The brigade was originally formed from the elements of the disbanded

105th Guards Vienna Airborne Division The 105th Guards Airborne Division () was an airborne division of the Soviet Airborne Troops. The division was originally formed as the 12th Guards Airborne Division as part of the 38th Guards Airborne Corps in December 1943. In December 1944, i ...

in 1979 as the 38th Separate Guards Air Assault Brigade. In 1990, it was transferred to the

Soviet airborne The Soviet Airborne Forces or VDV (from ''Vozdushno-Parachuting, desantnye voyska SSSR'', Russian: Воздушно-десантные войска СССР, ВДВ; Air-landing Forces) was a military branch, separate troops branch of the Soviet A ...

and renamed the 38th Separate Guards Airborne Brigade. In January 1992, it was taken over by

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

and was later renamed the 38th Guards Mobile Brigade. The brigade was renamed the 38th Guards Air Assault Brigade in 2016.

History

The 38th Separate Guards Air Assault Brigade was formed in October 1979 from the headquarters of the 105th Guards Airborne Division in Brest, part of the

Belorussian Military District , image = Soviet Union Belorussian Military District.svg , image_size = 300px , caption = The territory of the Byelorussian Military District in 1991. , dates = 28 November 1918 – 6 May 1992 , country = (1918–1920) (1920–1991) (1922� ...

. The official day of formation is considered to be 10 November. The brigade was composed of three airborne battalions, an air assault battalion, an artillery battalion and an antiaircraft artillery battalion. From 4 to 12 September 1981, the brigade participated in the exercise "West-81". Between August 1987 and June 1989, the brigade was commanded by

Vitaly Raevsky Vitaliy Anatoliovich Raevskiy (February 25, 1949 – 17 November 2014) was a Ukrainian major general of the reserves, who formerly formed and commanded all of the Ukrainian Airmobile Forces and before then was in the Soviet Airborne Troops. Earl ...

. Due to the

First Nagorno-Karabakh War The First Nagorno-Karabakh War, referred to in Armenia as the Artsakh Liberation War ( hy, Արցախյան ազատամարտ, Artsakhyan azatamart) was an ethnic and territorial conflict that took place from February 1988 to May 1994, in th ...

, the brigade was deployed to

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...

in January 1990. On 1 June 1990, the brigade was transferred to the

Soviet Airborne Forces The Soviet Airborne Forces or VDV (from ''Vozdushno- desantnye voyska SSSR'', Russian: Воздушно-десантные войска СССР, ВДВ; Air-landing Forces) was a separate troops branch of the Soviet Armed Forces. First formed be ...

and renamed the 38th Separate Guards Airborne Brigade. Its air assault battalion was disbanded and the antiaircraft artillery battalion became a battery. After the

Dissolution of the Soviet Union The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...

, the brigade was transferred to the

. On 1 September 1995, the brigade transferred to the Mobile Forces of the Republic of Belarus and was renamed the 38th Separate Guards Mobile Brigade. From 2002 to 31 January 2003, the brigade was part of the Ground Forces. On 1 February, it moved to the Belarusian Army

Spetsnatz Spetsnaz are special forces in numerous post-Soviet states. (The term is borrowed from rus, спецназ, p=spʲɪtsˈnas; abbreviation for or 'Special Purpose Military Units'; or .) Historically, the term ''spetsnaz'' referred to the So ...

. Between 2008 and 2011, the brigade was commanded by Vadim Denisenko, who later became commander of the

Special Forces of Belarus )''Anywhere, anytime, any task'' (alternative) , battles = United Nations Interim Force in LebanonLibyan Civil War (2011) 2020 Belarusian protests , commander1 = Major General Vadim Denisenko , commander1 ...

. On 3 June 2015, it was reported that the brigade had been brought to full combat readiness on the

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

border. Between 15 and 27 June, it was announced by China and Belarus that the two countries would stage Exercise Dashing Eagle 2015 with PLA paratroopers and the 38th's 382nd Mobile Battalion participating. On 2 August 2016, the brigade was renamed the 38th Separate Guards Air Assault Brigade, restoring its original name. The brigade received the honorific Brest after its base location on 14 January 2020. The brigade was used to suppress the 2020 Belarusian protests in Brest in August of that year.

Commanders

*Lieutenant Colonel

Valery Sakhashchyk Valery Stepanovich Sakhashchyk ( be, Валерый Сцяпанавіч Сахашчык, russian: Валерий Степанович Сахащик) is a former commander of the Belarusian 38th Separate Guards Air Assault Brigade. Following the ...

(1999-2002) * Vadim Denisenko (2008-2011) *Colonel Dmitry Ptashnik (since )

References

{{commons category Brigades of Belarus Military units and formations established in 1979 Airborne infantry brigades Special forces of Belarus Air assault brigades of the Soviet Ground Forces