Far Eastern Military District The Far Eastern Military District ( ) was a military district of the Russian Ground Forces . In 2010 it was merged with the Pacific Fleet and part of the Siberian Military District to form the new Eastern Military District . History . The Far Eastern Military District traces its history originally to the East Siberian Military District originally formed in 1918 , during the Russian Civil War . Its headquarters were at Khabarovsk . Following the Soviet victory in the Civil War the Soviet forces in the area became the Special Red Banner Far Eastern Army ( OKDVA ) of the Far Eastern Republic . The District was first briefly formed in 1935 from those forces , but then reverted to the title Special Red Banner Far Eastern Army , under Marshal of the Soviet Union Vasily Blyukher , while still functioning as a military district . The Army became the Soviet Far East Front in June 1938 , after Blyukher ' s torture and death at the hands of the NKVD during the Great Purge . In August 1941 , the commander of the Separate Red Banner Far Eastern Army ( OKVDA ) , General of the Army I . R . Apanasenko was tasked to send to the west several divisions , including tank formations . Almost at the same time in October - November , were sent to the West : the 58th Tank Division of General AA Kotljarova , 61st Tank Division - Colonel BM Skvortsov , 60th Tank Division - Major - General A . Popova and 112th Tank Division . The Soviet invasion of Manchuria was launched against the Japanese held region of Manchukuo , the Japanese protectorates of Inner Mongolia and Korea , and several Japanese - claimed islands from the Soviet Far East by the Far Eastern Direction , with the two Far East Fronts under its command , under Marshal Vasilevsky in the last days of the Second World War . On September 10 , 1945 , the 1st Far Eastern Front was disbanded by being redesignated the Primorskoe ( Maritime ) Military District , controlling the Primorye Territory , and the 2nd Far Eastern Front was redesignated the Far East Military District controlling Kamchatka , Sakhalin and the Kurile Islands . In 1947 the Khabarovsk territory and the Amur area were added to the Far Eastern Military District . Six years later on April 23 , 1953 , the two districts were reunified as the Far Eastern Military District , with its headquarters staff in Khabarovsk , the staff being drawn from the former Commander - in - Chief of Forces of the Far East ' s staff . There were originally a corps headquarters and three divisions of the Soviet Airborne Forces ( VDV ) , active in the district after the war . 37th Guards Airborne Corps ( ) had the 13th , 98th , and 99th Guards Airborne Division s , but the 13th was disbanded in 1959 and the other divisions disbanded by the end of the 1970s , leaving air assault brigades as the only Airborne Forces present . Among the air assault brigades formed was the 13th , activated 8 . 70 in Magdagachi , Amur Oblast , and active until 1996 . The 83rd Air Assault Brigade arrived in Ussuryisk , Primorskiy Kray , in mid - 1990 , and was transferred from the VDV to the District in 1995 . In 1969 on the staff of the 51st Combined Arms Army was formed on the basis of the staff of the 2nd Army Corps . At the end of the 1980s the composition of the 51st combined arms Army of the Far - Eastern military district included : Toward the end of the 1980s the District included the 5th Army ( HQ Ussuriysk , seven divisions ) , the 15th Army ( HQ Khabarovsk , four divisions ) , the 35th Army ( HQ Belogorsk , six divisions ) , and the 51st Army ( HQ Yuzho - Sakhalinsk , including 25th Army Corps with the 87th and 99th MRDs , and four other divisions ) . On 11 October 1993 the 51st Army became the 68th Army Corps . 25th Army Corps eventually became the headquarters of Ground and Coastal Defence Forces of the new North - Eastern Group of Troops and Forces in the Chukotka area . The District gained the vast Sakha Republic from the disbanding Transbaikal Military District following reorganisation in the late 1990s , which also saw the disbandment of the 15th and 51st Armies . After that 1998 reorganisation , forces within the District included the 14th Separate Brigade of Special Designation ( Spetsnaz ) at Ussuriysk , the 5th Army , the 35th Army , HQ 68th Corps ( the former 51st Army ) , four Motor Rifle Divisions , and four Machine - Gun / Artillery Divisions . The structure of the 83rd Airborne Brigade at Ussuriysk is unclear ; it has incorporated a tank battalion is in the past . With the brigade for certain at present are the 635 / 654 or 954 / 598 Separate Airborne Battalions ( опдб ) , a Guards artillery battalion , and support units . In April 2007 it was reported that ten units in the DVVO were manned by contract servicemen . Under naval command was the North Eastern Group of Troops and Forces ( Ru : Группировки войск и сил на Северо - Востоке России ( ВССВ ) ) , formed in 1998 and incorporating troops of the former 25th Army Corps . The North - Eastern Group was established in Kamchatka in 1998 " primarily because of the remoteness of the zone of responsibility in the North - East from the controlling structures , the Far East Military District , and the Pacific Fleet " . It included the 40th Motor Rifle Brigade on the Kamchatka peninsula , which appears to be at Petropavlovsk - Kamchatsky and includes the 59th Separate Tank Battalion and 385th Separate Motor Rifle Battalion . In August 2007 the 40th Brigade become a Naval Infantry brigade , and in 2009 it became the 3rd Naval Infantry Regiment . Subordinate units . " Order of the Red Star " Far Eastern Military District 2010 :