68th Army Corps (Russia)

68th Army Corps
Active	1993–2010 2014–present
Country	Russia
Branch	Russian Ground Forces
Part of	Eastern Military District
Garrison/HQ	Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk
Commanders
Current commander	Lieutenant General Dmitry Glushenkov
Notable commanders	Major General Valery Asapov

The 68th Army Corps (Russian: 68-й армейский корпус) is an army corps of the Russian Ground Forces' Eastern Military District, stationed in Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, with its headquarters at Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. The corps was first formed in 1993 from the 51st Army and disbanded in 2010. It was reformed in 2014.

History

The 68th Army Corps was first formed on 11 October 1993 from the 51st Army at Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, part of the Far Eastern Military District.[1][2] It included the 33rd Motor Rifle Division at Khomutovo,[3] the 18th Machine Gun Artillery Division at Goryachiye Klyuchi,[4] and the 31st Anti-Aircraft Rocket Brigade at Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.[5] In 1997, its commander, Lieutenant General Gennady Anoshin, died of heart failure on a plane flight just before he was scheduled to retire from active duty.[6] In 2002, the 31st Brigade was disbanded.[5] Sources differ on the date of the corps' disbandment. According to Aleksey Gayday, in Russia's New Army, the corps was disbanded on 1 December 2006.[7] A 2014 news report cited the date of the corps' disbandment as 2010.[8] On 1 June 2009, as part of the reform of the Russian Armed Forces, the 33rd Division was downsized into the 39th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade.[3]

A MT-LB of the 39th Motor Rifle Brigade during Exercise "Vostok-2014" on Sakhalin

In April 2014, the corps was reinstated on the basis the units already stationed in Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands: the 18th Machine Gun Artillery Division and the 39th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade,[8] under the command of Major General Valery Asapov. The 676th Separate Engineer Battalion was formed later that year.[9] In July 2015, Major General Alexander Peryazev took command after Asapov transferred to the Southern Military District.[10] and, according to Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine as well as other sources, under the alias of "Primakov" participated in the Russian military intervention in Ukraine as commander of the Donetsk People's Republic's 1st Army Corps.[11][12] The corps moved to a full contract manning system from August 2016.[13] In February 2017, Major General Dmitry Glushenkov became commander of the corps, replacing Peryazev, who became commander of the 20th Guards Army.[14]

Role in the Russian invasion of Ukraine

In the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, elements of the 68th Army Corps (including units from the 18th Machine Gun Artillery Division and 39th Separate Red Banner Motor Rifle Brigade) had been deployed to Belarus and were participating in active combat operations.[15][16]

Organisation

In 2019 the corps structure was altered into the following:[17][18]

• 137th Separate Headquarters Battalion, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk
• 1336th Command and Intelligence Centre, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk
• 327th Separate Electronic Warfare Battalion, Dachnoe
• 39th Separate Red Banner Motor Rifle Brigade, в/ч 35390 Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk
• 18th Machine Gun Artillery Division, в/ч 05812 Goryachy Klyuch
  • 46th Machine Gun Artillery Regiment в/ч 71435
  • 49th Machine Gun Artillery Regiment в/ч 71439
• 312th Separate Rocket Artillery Battalion, Dachnoe
• 431st Air Defence Command Post, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk
• 676th Separate Engineering Battalion, Dachnoe

Commanders

• Major General Valery Grigoryevich Asapov (January 2014 – July 2015)
• Major General Alexandr Vasilyevich Peryazev (July 2015 – February 2017)
• Major General Dmitry Valeryevich Glushenkov (February 2017 – present)

References

Citations

1. Holm, Michael. "51st Combined Arms Army". www.ww2.dk. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
2. Feskov et al 2013, p. 131.
3. Holm, Michael. "33rd Motorised Rifle Division". www.ww2.dk. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
4. Holm, Michael. "18th Machine-Gun Artillery Division". www.ww2.dk. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
5. Holm, Michael. "31st Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade". www.ww2.dk. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
6. "Биографии". memoriesnorth.narod.ru. Retrieved 2017-03-18.
7. Barabanov, Mikhail, ed. (2011). Russia's New Army (PDF). Moscow: Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies. p. 14. ISBN 978-5-9902620-3-4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-02-12. Retrieved 2017-03-18.
8. Mukhin, Vladimir (21 April 2014). "КАРТ-БЛАНШ. Курилам придают военно-стратегический облик" [Carte Blanche: Kuriles get strategic military character]. Nezavisimaya Gazeta (in Russian). Retrieved 18 March 2017.
9. "В российских инженерных войсках в 2015 году появятся роботы-саперы" [Robots to join Russian Engineering Troops in 2015]. TASS (in Russian). 22 December 2014. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
10. Semenova, Kseniya (31 July 2015). "В 68 армейском корпусе, дислоцированном в Сахалинской области, сменится командование" [68th Army Corps in Sakhalin Oblast changes command]. Sakhalin.info (in Russian). Retrieved 18 March 2017.
11. "War criminal, Major General of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation ASAPOV Valerii Hryhorovych (undercover name – Prymakov)" [War criminal, lieutenant general of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation Asapov Valery Grigorievich (name of the cover - Primakov)]. The Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. Retrieved 25 September 2017.
12. Maria Tsvetkova. 'Fog' of Ukraine's war: Russian's death in Syria sheds light on secret mission Reuters, 29 January 2018.
13. Gorbunov, Vadim (31 August 2016). "68-й армейский корпус перейдет на контрактную систему комплектования" [68th Army Corps to move to contract manning system]. Moskovsky Komsomolets (in Russian). Retrieved 18 March 2017.
14. Yasko, Kirill (3 February 2017). "Десантник Дмитрий Глушенков возглавит сахалинский 68-й армейский корпус" [Paratrooper Dmitry Glushenkov takes command of Sakhalin's 68th Army Corps]. Sakhalin.info (in Russian). Retrieved 18 March 2017.
15. "Institute for the Study of War".
16. "Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment" (PDF). Retrieved 24 April 2022.
17. "20th Army gains new commander". Коммерсантъ. Retrieved 2020-04-01.
18. "RUSSIAN REGULAR GROUND FORCES ORDER OF BATTLE" (PDF). October 2023.

Bibliography

• Feskov, V.I.; Golikov, Valery; Kalashnikov, Konstantin; Slugin, Sergei (2013). Вооруженные силы СССР после Второй Мировой войны: от Красной Армии к Советской [The Armed Forces of the USSR after World War II: From the Red Army to the Soviet: Part 1 Land Forces] (in Russian). Tomsk: Scientific and Technical Literature Publishing. ISBN 9785895035306.