42nd Guards Motor Rifle Division

The 42nd Guards Motor Rifle Division is part of the 58th Combined Arms Army of the Russian Armed Forces in the Southern Military District. It is headquartered in Khankala, Chechnya, with additional bases in Shali and Borzoy.

In December 1999, the decision was made to transfer the Division permanently to Chechnya, with the process being completed by May 2000 (42Diviziya.rf, undated). It was disbanded in December 2008 after participating in the August 2008 war with Georgia (Krym Realii, 2021; other sources give the date as June 2009), then recreated in December 2016.

The Division has participated in Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Leadership

• Roman Demurchiyev (December 2022-date)

Composition

• Four motor rifle regiments: 70th Guards Motorised Rifle Regiment; 71st Guards Motorised Rifle Regiment; 291st Guards Motorised Rifle Regiment; 78th Special Purpose Motorised Regiment (Sever-Akhmat)
• One self-propelled artillery regiment: 50th Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment
• Two miscellaneous regiments: Akhmat-Rossiya Regiment; Akhmat-Chechnya Regiment
• Two miscellaneous battalions: Yug-Akhmat Battalion; Zapad-Akhmat Battalion;
• One detached anti-aircraft battalion: 245th Separate Anti-Aircraft Missile Battalion
• One detached reconnaissance battalion: 417th Detached Reconnaissance Battalion
• One detached anti-tank artillery Battalion: 150th Separate Anti-Tank Artillery Battalion
• One detached communications battalion
• One detached engineer brigade
• One logistics battalion
• One medical battalion
• Three detached companies (Krym Realii, 2021; Clark and Hird, 2023:17).