55th Mountain Motor Rifle Brigade

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55th Guards Mountain Motor Rifle Brigade
Brigade insignia patch
Active2015 – present
Country Russia
Branch Russian Ground Forces
TypeMechanized infantry
RoleMountain Warfare
SizeBrigade
Part of41st Combined Arms Army
Garrison/HQKyzyl
EngagementsRussian invasion of Ukraine
Commanders
Current
commander		Colonel Denis Barilo

The 55th Guards Mountain Motor Rifle Brigade (Russian:55-я отдельная гвардейская мотострелковая бригада (горная)) (Military Unit Number 55115) is a mechanized infantry brigade of the Russian Ground Forces. It is located in Kyzyl, Tyva Republic, as part of the 41st Combined Arms Army of the Central Military District.

In April 2014, it was reported that a new mountain motor rifle brigade would be formed in Kyzyl, Tyva Republic, in 2015.[2] In July 2014 Krasnaya Zvezda wrote that the organizational core of the future brigade had already arrived in Tuva. Colonel Andrei Shelukhin, head of the organizing group, and many of his subordinates arrived in Tuva from mountainous Tajikistan "so they had experience in conquering peaks."[3] On June 28, 2014, a Snow Leopard mountaineering club team, together with officers of the mountain brigade Kydykbek Sheripov and Alexander Umrikhin, climbed the highest peak of Tuva and all of Eastern Siberia - Mount Mongun-Taiga (Silver Taiga), "and now their pennants are flying at the height of 3,976 meters." The head of government in Tuva, Sholban Kara-ool, reportedly ordered that each of the future mountain rifle candidates also had a recommendation signed by the relevant district official. The article also said that high-ranking officials made no attempts to avoid military service for their sons.

The brigade was formed in November 2015.[4] 1047 of the 1300 servicemen were natives of Tuva.[5]

In November 2018, an unmanned aerial vehicle unit was formed as part of the brigade, equipped with Orlan-10 and Eleron-3 drones.[6]

It has been involved in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[7]

Russo-Ukrainian war[edit]

Main articles: Russo-Ukrainian War and 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine

A Tuvan soldier of the 55th brigade in Avdiivka, 22 February 2024

On March 3, 2022, the troops of the 55th brigade entered the village of Yahidne near Chernihiv. The troops stopped in the village and set up their headquarters in the local school. According to local residents, the military herded people into the basement of the school under threat of death. Within a week, the number of captives in the basement, which consisted of a gym and four or five small rooms, grew from a few dozen to more than 300. Among them was a 6-week-old baby, dozens of other children, and several elderly people, the oldest of whom was 93 of the year. “It was very hot in the basement. There was nothing to breathe. Elderly people began to die because there was not enough food, air, medicine,” says a villager. Houses were destroyed, stolen, sometimes mined. Many of the soldiers suspected of forcibly imprisoning civilians without due cause in Yahidne, including nine accused of war crimes, come from the Siberian region of Tuva, one of the poorest in Russia. “In the village of Yahidne, Chernihiv region, 360 residents, including 74 children and five disabled people, were forced by the Russian armed forces to stay for 28 days in the basement of a school they used as their base,” said the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. “The basement was extremely crowded. People had to sit all day without being able to lie down. There was no toilet, no water, no ventilation. Ten elderly people have died."[8]

In August 2022, social media posts revealed that the 55th Motorized Rifle Brigade was operating in the direction of Siversk, a town in the Donetsk Oblast.[9]

References[edit]

  1. ^ https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-january-21-2024
  2. ^ "55th Independent Motor Rifle Brigade (Mountain) (55 OMSBr (G))". 23 May 2014.
  3. ^ Олег ГРОЗНЫЙ (9 July 2014). Растить настоящих мужчин. Archived from the original on 2014-09-06.
  4. ^ Ivanov, Ivan (9 February 2016). Приказ быстро построиться [Order to quickly build]. Rossiskaya Gazeta (in Russian). Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  5. ^ В Туву прибыл первый эшелон 55 отдельной мотострелковой (горной) бригады. TuvaOnline (in Russian). 23 November 2016. Archived from the original on 2017-07-31. Retrieved 2017-11-03.
  6. ^ "Подразделение беспилотной авиации ЦВО сформировано в Туве". Press service of the Central Military District (November 27, 2018) (in Russian). 27 November 2018. Archived from the original on 27 November 2018. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
  7. ^ "Ukraine Army regains control over four settlements in Kharkiv Region – General Staff". Retrieved 30 April 2022.
  8. ^ Krutov, Mark (18 June 2022). "Dungeon Of Death: Survivor Recounts Dire Conditions For Captives Of Russian Soldiers In Ukraine Basement". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. Retrieved 2022-08-24.
  9. ^ "Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, August 6". Institute for the Study of War. 6 August 2022. Archived from the original on 25 December 2022. Retrieved 7 August 2022.
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