Under the Russian readiness scheme, a military district comports to a front, a strategic formation, potentially numbering 250,000 soldiers and 300 aircraft.
[Regnum] Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on March 5 that the new military-administrative division, established by decree of the country's President Vladimir Putin, will improve the efficiency of troop control.
As the head of the Ministry of Defense emphasized, the creation of two new Leningrad and Moscow military districts occurred due to the growing threat from NATO.
“Against the backdrop of building up NATO’s military potential near the Russian borders, expanding the alliance through the entry of Finland, and in the future Sweden, we have taken steps to strengthen troop groups in the northwestern and western strategic directions,” Shoigu said at a thematic conference call with leadership of the Russian Armed Forces.
In accordance with the presidential decree, the corresponding territories were assigned to the districts, including new regions of the country, he specified. These measures will significantly improve the efficiency of troop control, Shoigu added.
“We will continue to improve the composition and structure of the armed forces in proportion to emerging threats to Russia’s military security,” the head of the Ministry of Defense concluded.
As Regnum reported, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on February 26 on the re-establishment of the Moscow and Leningrad military districts. The first, in addition to Moscow, included Belgorod, Bryansk, Vladimir, Voronezh, Ivanovo, Kaluga, Kostroma, Kursk, Lipetsk, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Oryol, Ryazan, Smolensk, Tambov, Tver, Tula and Yaroslavl regions; the second, in addition to St. Petersburg, includes the Republic of Karelia, the Komi Republic, Arkhangelsk, Vologda, Kaliningrad, Leningrad, Murmansk, Novgorod and Pskov regions and the Nenets Autonomous Okrug.
As Igor Korotchenko, editor-in-chief of the National Defense magazine, stated in an interview with Regnum news agency, this step is necessary for the country and reflects the inequality of the Russian Armed Forces and NATO countries. According to the expert, the alliance’s general line of confrontation with the Russian Federation and the entry of Finland and Sweden into it led to Putin’s decision to return two military districts that existed previously - before 2010. Shoigu announced the need to create new strategic territorial associations of the Russian Armed Forces in the context of NATO expansion back in December 2022.
Sweden and Finland submitted applications to join NATO in May of the same year, and soon Finland was officially accepted into the alliance, and the decision on Sweden’s entry into the bloc was delayed due to the positions of Turkey and Hungary, which later agreed on entry.
Putin noted in December 2023 that the West does not give up aggressive goals, so NATO’s activity has increased and significant forces have been transferred from the United States to Russia’s borders. And the “drawing” of Finland and Sweden into NATO means the next stage in the approach of the military bloc to the borders of the Russian Federation, the head of state emphasized.