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Russian Military Districts - 2010 Restructuring

In June 2010 it was announced that the Russia's General Staff was planning to merge existing military districts into four strategic commands but leave strategic nuclear forces under central control. "We will propose merging our six military districts into four strategic commands whose commanders will exercise control over all forces and assets deployed in their territory, including the Navy, Air Force and air defenses," chief of General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Gen. Nikolai Makarov said. "The ground-, sea- and air-based strategic nuclear forces will stay under the General Staff's command," the general was quoted as saying at a session of the Federation Council's Defense and Security Committee.

The Russian Armed Forces were previously divided into six military districts: Moscow, Leningrad, North Caucasus, Urals, Siberian and Far Eastern. The commanders of these military districts did not operationally control the vast majority of units on their territory. The operational control of military units had typically resided with the service commander (Ground Forces, Navy, etc.). Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov merged the six military districts into four, which would also function as “Joint Strategic Commands,” by giving operational control of most units to the military district commander. The creation of four unified strategic commands to replace four military districts as part of Russia's military reform was completed in October 2010, ahead of schedule. President Dmitry Medvedev set the original date for 01 December 2010.

Command West, with headquarters in Moscow, controls all military personnel and hardware in the Western Military District. The new district incorporated the former Moscow and Leningrad military districts and the Baltic and Northern Fleets. Command South, with headquarters in Rostov, was in charge of the Southern Military District, which will include the former North Caucasian Military District and the Black Sea Fleet and Caspian Flotilla. Command Center, with headquarters in Yekaterinburg, controlled the Central Military District, including the former Volga-Urals Military District and the western part of the Siberian Military District. Finally, Command East, with headquarters in Khabarovsk, had command over the Pacific Fleet, the Far Eastern Military District and the larger part of the Siberian Military District.