4th Guards Kantemirovskaya Tank Division The 4th Guards " Kantemirovskaya " Tank Brigade , more usually known as the Kantemirovskaya Division ( Cyrillic : гвардейская танковая Кантемировская дивизия , " Gvardeiskaya Tankovaya Kantemirovskaya Divisiya " ) or Kantemir Division , is an elite armoured division of the Russian Ground Forces . It is one of the key formations of the Western Military District , subordinated to the 20th Guards Army under Lt . General Andrey Tretyak . It is one of the Russian Army ' s ' constant readiness ' divisions , with at least 80 % manpower and 100 % equipment holdings at all times . All of its units , as well as headquarters , are based in the town of Naro - Fominsk , 70 km south - west of Moscow . History . The direct ascendant of the 4th Guards Kantemirovskaya Tank Division was the 17th Tank Corps , initially formed in 1942 , which commenced its combat history on 26 June 1942 just prior to the Battle of Voronezh ( 1942 ) , deployed to the west of the city . For distinction in combat against fascist aggressors in the Middle Don Operation ( 17 – 30 December 1942 ) , the Corps was renumbered as the 4th Guards Tank Corps in January 1943 . It received the honorific " Kantemirovsky " after Kantemirovka , the village which was liberated by tank subunits as their baptism of fire . In the August 1943 formation endured continuous combat on the Belgorod - Kharkiv direction of The Kursk Bulge . For the courage and heroism shown during the liberation of cities on the right - bank Ukraine : Zbarazh , Ternopil , and Shepetovka in April 1944 the Corps was awarded the Order of the Red Banner , and seventeen regiments and separate battalions were awarded honorifics of : " Shepetovsky " , " Zhitomirsky " , " Yampolsky " , and " Tarnopolsky " . For clearing Krakow the Corps was awarded the Order of Lenin . The 4th Guards Tank Corps was among the first to reach the river Elbe , and participated in the capture of Dresden ; having made a sudden redeployment to Czechoslovakia , the Corps finished the fighting during the Second World War in the suburbs of Prague . For the courage shown by soldiers and officers of the Corps , during wartime military units were awarded 23 awards , the staff of the Corps was thanked officially by the Supreme commander in chief 18 times , 32 of its members were awarded the Hero of Soviet Union ( 5 of which are forever enlisted in the unit rolls ) , more than 20 thousand received awards and medals , five becoming full chevalier s of the Order of Glory . On 14 June 1945 the 4th Guards Tank Corps became the 4th Guards " " Kantemirovskaya " " Tank Division and on 13 September 1945 it was assigned to the armies of Moscow Military District with a re - deployment to Naro - Fominsk Moscow Region . In the autumn of 1946 it participated in the Day of the Tankmen ' s parade on the Red Square in Moscow . On 23 February 1984 the division received the honorific name " Yuri Andropov " . The division was one of the two major Ground Forces divisions deployed in Moscow in August 1991 as part of the attempted hardline coup against Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev . The coup ' s failure strengthened Boris Yeltsin ' s position in the Russian SFSR , and soon afterwards in the Russian Federation , of which he became President . The Kantemirovskaya Division , together with the Tamanskaya Division which had also taken part in the coup , but ended up supporting Yeltsin , was to form the basis of a " de facto " Praetorian Guard for Yeltsin throughout the 1990s , securing his political power throughout the time he was President . During the most serious crisis of Yeltsin ' s premiership , the 1993 constitutional crisis , the Kantemir Division was one of several key divisions that had given their reluctant support to Yeltsin by October 4 , the decisive point in the crisis . The 1st GTA had relocated from the former East Germany to Smolensk when Soviet troops left Germany at the beginning of the 90s ; it was disbanded in 1998 , as was the 144th MRD . Thereafter the Kantemirovskaya Division came under the command of the 20th Guards Army . Units of the division took part in the First Chechen War . In the early 1990s , the division came under the command of the famous 1st Guards Tank Army , along with the 144th Motor Rifle Division . Personnel of the subunits took part in peace - keeping operations in South Ossetia during 1997 , and in Kosovo in 1998 - 2002 , later participating in a counter - terrorism operation in the Chechen republic . On 9 May 2005 , eight T - 80 BV tanks from the division took part in the parade in Moscow to mark the 60th anniversary of VE - day . On 27 December 2005 , the division was visited by Sergei Ivanov , the Russian Defence Minister . Most recently , in early 2006 , the division ' s 13th Tank Regiment participated , along with other 20th Guards Army units , in the joint Russian - Belorussian " Shield of Union " military exercises . The Kantemirovsky street in Moscow is named in the honour of the division . According to the NOVOSTI news agency the 4th Guards Kantemirovskaya is on the road of being disbanded by the Russian Defense Ministry , according to Russian government the division will be converted into two brigade s . The high command of the Russian armed forces has said the newly established brigades would retain their honorary names and banners . Subordinated units and fighting strength . As of 2006 , the Kantemirovskaya Division consisted of the following units : The 4th Guards Tank Division currently has approximately 12 , 000 personnel in active service . The division ' s principal vehicles are the T - 80 main battle tank and the BMP - 2 infantry fighting vehicle ; it also makes limited use of the BTR - 80 and MT - LB armoured personnel carrier s , as well as the 2S19 Msta - S self - propelled artillery system and BM - 21 " Grad " MLRS . Equipment Summary