Special Purpose Command The Special Purpose Command ( " Komandovaniye Spetsialnogo Naznacheniya " ) was a formation of the Russian Air Force , the strongest among the tactical aviation and anti - aircraft groupings . Its zone of responsibility amounted to 1 . 3 million km² , taking in 40 million people , as well as the country ' s capital , Moscow . On July 1 , 2009 it was superseded by the Operational - Strategic Command for Missile - Space Defence ( ) . As a result of the air force reforms implemented on June 1 , 1998 , the Moscow District of the PVO and the 16th Air Army of VVS became a single entity , the Moscow District of the Air Force and Air Defense . According to Krasnaya Zvezda of 16 December 2002 , the former Moscow District of the VVS and PVO was reorganised as the Special Purpose Command in September 2002 . Interfax says the Moscow District was split into the reactivated 16th Air Army , a tactical force , and the of the Central Air Defence Zone , an air defense force . Pyotr Butowski , writing in 2004 , seems to indicate that the Special Purpose Command ( he makes no mention of the ‘ of the Central Air Defence Zone ’ ) is merely essentially a redesignation of the former Moscow District . The rearrangement of the Moscow District of the VVS and PVO into the Special Purpose Command is apparently connected with plans in the long term for the military - space defense of the central industrial region . The initial commanding officer of the KSpN was General Lieutenant Yuri Solovyov , later promoted to Colonel - General . The Moscow Air Defence District has a long history , dating back to the Second World War . Until 1950 , MiG - 15 interceptor regiments were concentrated in the Moscow District to protect the capital against US bomber attack . After 1950 significant elements , the 64th Fighter Aviation Corps , were redeployed to fight in the Korean War . The district ' s commander was replaced shortly before the Matthias Rust affair in 1988 for insufficient support of Mikhail Gorbachev ' s perestroika policy . VVS and PVO Units in the District in the late 1980s . In the last days of the Soviet Union there was a considerable Soviet Air Defence Forces presence , and a smaller Air Forces presence , in the Moscow Military District . The Air Forces of the Moscow Military District , alternately known as the 78th Air Army , consisted of a reconnaissance regiment , the 47th Guards Separate Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment at Shatalovo flying Su - 24MPs , and the 9th Fighter Aviation Division ( 9 iad ) , at Kubinka , with four regiments . The division incorporated the 32nd Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment , also at Shatalovo , with MiG - 23MLDs , the 234th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment at Kubinka with MiG - 29s , the 274th Fighter - Bomber Aviation Regiment at Migalovo ( 274 apib ) with Su - 17s , and the 343rd Fighter Aviation Regiment at Sennoy with MiG - 29s . Also part of the force was a ground signals regiment , the 131st . 32nd Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment served in Cuba as part of ' Operation Anadyr ' during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1963 . The regiment was temporarily renamed 213th Fighter Aviation Regiment while in Cuba . Joseph Stalin ' s son Vasily Stalin commanded the Moscow district air forces in the early 1950s . Moscow district air defence had been provided during the Second World War by initially the Moscow PVO Corps Region . The Corps Region Headquarters , then formed the Moscow Front PVO from 6 April 1942 - 10 July 1943 . In turn , the Moscow Front PVO was redesignated as Headquarters , Special Moscow PVO Army . In 1948 the North - Western Air Defence District was redesignated the Moscow Air Defence Region , which became the Moscow Air Defence District in 1950 . In 1988 the Order of Lenin Moscow Air Defence District had four air defence corps and a division , which included 11 fighter aviation regiments , one transport helicopter regiment , 28 anti - aircraft rocket regiments , and four radar brigades and regiments . The corps were the 2nd , at Balashikha , 3rd at Rzhev , 7th at Kursk , and 16th at Gorky . One of the fighter regiments was the 472nd Fighter Aviation Regiment at Kursk . The 7th Air Defence Corps was redesignated the 7th Air Defence Division in the early 1990s . 7th Air Defence Division 1995 . Source Holm . The division was disbanded in 2001 . Moscow Air Defence District commanders . Source 1948 - 80 : Holm 16th Air Army . The 16th Air Army ( ) was the most important formation of the Special Purpose Command . Initially formed during the Second World War as a part of the Soviet Air Force , it was from c . 2002 - 2009 the tactical air force component of the Moscow Military District , headquartered at Kubinka . The army was formed on August 10 , 1942 during the Battle of Stalingrad on the basis of military units and organizations of the eighth Air Army ( 220th Fighter Division and 228 attack aircraft division ) , and included the 228th and 291st Assault Aviation Divisions and two separate aviation regiments . The end of August / beginning of September came the 283rd Fighter Division and the 291st mixed Fliegerdivion from the reserve of the Headquarters added . The starting inventory stood on 4 September to 152 aircraft types Yak - 1 , LaGG - 3 , IL - 2 and Pe - 2 . Until the beginning of the first jobs whose number has been increased to 300 . It took part in Operation Uranus as part of the Don Front in November – December 1942 , being commanded by Sergei Rudenko . It was involved in the Battle of Kursk , and was part of the First Belorussian Front for the liberation of Belarus , the Lublin - Brest Offensive , and the assault on Berlin . For a long period after the war , the army was stationed with the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany , headquartered at Zossen - Wünsdorf . In 1949 , it was renamed the 24th Air Army , but was reformed as the 16th in 1968 . In its last years in Germany , it consisted of : The 16th Air Army ceremonially said farewell to Germany at the Sperenburg Open Day on 27 May 1994 . On that day the Air Army Headquarters was moved to Kubinka in the Moscow Military District . However the last aircraft from the 226th Separate Mixed Aviation Regiment did not leave Sperenburg until 6 September 1994 . A visiting Il - 76MD was the last aircraft movement three days later . On 1 June 1998 , the 16th Air Army was disbanded and its units incorporated into the Moscow District of VVS and PVO , in accordance with the amalgamation of the Air Forces and the Russian Air Defence Forces . This was quickly reversed and on 25 November 1998 , the 16th Composite Air Corps was re - raised . The 16th Composite Air Corps was reformed as the 16th Air Army on 1 February 2002 . Savasleyka is another airbase within the Moscow Military District ' s boundaries , but its exact operational status is currently unclear , as the formerly resident unit , the 54th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment , was not listed as operational in the most widely available recent survey of Russian air power , which was done by " Air Forces Monthly " in August and September 2007 . The 54th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment had previously been withdrawn from Vainode Air Base in Latvia . Russian internet sources now say it has been reorganised as the 3958th Air Base . The 16th Air Army will soon receive two regiments of the advanced Su - 34 Fullback fighter - bombers in the near future . General Belevitch said the 16th Air Army would also receive MiG - 29 SM Fulcrum fighters to replace outdated MiG - 29s and modernized Su - 25 Frogfoot close support aircraft , which showed outstanding performance during operations in Afghanistan , Chechnya and other " hot spots . " 2007 structure . In 2009 the Russian Air Force was extensively reorganised . This structure is not current . " Combat Aircraft " magazine ' s June 2010 issue gives some details of the new structure .