The 71st Motor Rifle Division ( Military Unit Number 07225) was a motorized infantry division of the

Soviet Army uk, Радянська армія , image = File:Communist star with golden border and red rims.svg , alt = , caption = Emblem of the Soviet Army , start_date ...

between 1984 and 1989. It was based in Semipalatinsk. Converted to a storage base in 1989, it was taken over by

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

with 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 ...

History

The 71st Motor Rifle Division was activated in 1984 from elements of the 155th Motor Rifle Division as a mobilization division. The division was based in Semipalatinsk and was part of the 32nd Army. In March 1988, it became part of the 1st Army Corps after the redesignation of the 32nd Army. The mobilization division was redesignated as a territorial training center and later became the 5202nd Weapons and Equipment Storage Base on 1 November 1989. In 1991, the

40th Army The 40th Army (, ''40-ya obshchevoyskovaya armiya'', "40th Combined Arms Army") of the Soviet Ground Forces was an army-level command that participated in World War II from 1941 to 1945 and was reformed specifically for the Soviet–Afghan War fr ...

was reformed and the storage base became part of it. The storage base was taken over by Kazakhstan in March 1992. The equipment of the base was used to form the Kazakh Military Unit 30217 at Semey, whose first post-independence commander was Major General Aleksandr Martynov. Open source data identifies the unit as the 8th Separate Mechanized Brigade. The unit is part of Regional Command East.

References

{{Soviet Union divisions Motor rifle divisions of the Soviet Union Military units and formations established in 1984 Military units and formations disestablished in 1989