The brigade became the 56th Guards Airborne Brigade in 1989. In January and February 1990, the brigade was deployed to Baku to patrol the border as a result of the Baku pogrom. On 1 June, the brigade was transferred to the Soviet airborne and renamed the 40th Separate Airborne Brigade. The newly renamed brigade was transferred to Fergana a week later to conduct security operations. After the Dissolution of the Soviet Union, the brigade was moved to the North Caucasus in Karachay-Cherkessia. The brigade was given the designation Don Cossack on 22 April 1994. Between December 1994 and October 1996, the brigade fought in the First Chechen War. In 1997, it was renamed the 56th Guards Airborne Regiment. In August 1999, a battalion sized task force of the regiment was deployed to fight in the Second Chechen War. After being withdrawn from Chechnya in November 2004, the regiment once again became the 56th Guards Airborne Brigade on 1 May 2009 and in July 2010 was designated as the 56th Guards Airborne Brigade (Light). In 2013, it became part of the Russian Airborne Troops.