85th Motor Rifle Division The 85th Leningrad - Pavlovsk Red Banner Motor Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Soviet Red Army originally active from 1931 and converted to a motorised formation in 1957 . It was part of the Russian Ground Forces until it was reorganised as two . The division was originally formed in 1931 in the Ural MD , seemingly at Chelyabinsk . It seems to have been sent to Belorussian Special Military District , soon to be the Western Special Military District , 1940 . Assigned to 4th Rifle Corps , 3rd Army , Soviet Western Front on outbreak of war . Narod . ru seems to indicate that the division was formed twice , in 1931 and 1941 . After the division ' s First Formation was disbanded or destroyed , the division was reformed . On 10 March 1945 the division marched into the area Balozi , Kreyli and 22 . 03 . 1945 March , stepping into the junction between the 43rd Infantry Division and 46 Infantry Division seized the servants , Meira , where it met strong enemy counterattacks , held on defense until 30 . 04 . 1945 . On 30 April 1945 the Division , passing occupied Rebezha 43rd Rifle Division and the 56th Rifle Division , took a new line of defense Mengravil , Yatsy , replacing part of the 11th Rifle Division . By the end of the day on 07 . 05 . 1945 , the German troops began to retreat in a north - west direction . Parts of the division pursued the retreating enemy in the direction Lubenko , Rumbiniska , Zeri and 17 . 00 08 . 05 . 1945 year went to the line of Grange Gaito , Yurdi , Cowes , where at 18 . 00 on 08 . 05 . 1945 the division accepted the surrender of enemy units . After fighting on the Eastern Front , the division ' s Second Formation was relocated to Siberia in 1945 . In September 1945 , the division , part of the 122nd Rifle Corps arrived in the city of Novosibirsk ( Siberian Military District ) , and was given barracks in a military town in the street Bogatkova . In 1946 , the division was reorganized as the 24th Infantry Brigade . In 1953 , the brigade was upgraded and redesignated the 85th Pavlovsky Rifle Red Banner Division once again . From 1957 the division became the 85th Motorized Rifle Division . Furthermore , the division exchanged regiments with the 74th Motor Rifle Division - 444th Regiment ( formerly 103rd ) ( for the ? ) 228th Sevastopol Order of Alexander Nevsky Regiment . On March 27 , 1967 , the division was given the honorary name of Leningrad and it became known as the 85th Motor Rifle Leningrad - Pavlovskaya Red Banner Division . At the end of the 1980s the division consisted of the 387th Tank Regiment , 141st , 59th ( ? ) , 228th MRRs , 167th Artillery Regt , and the 1133rd Anti - aircraft Rocket Regiment . In 1992 , the division received the 74th Guards Tank Valginsky Order of Lenin Red Banner , Order of Suvorov , Kutuzov and Bogdan Khmelnitsky regiment which had returned from Schwerin in Germany . The 74th GTR had previously been assigned to the 94th Motor Rifle Division , which , reduced in status to the 74th Motor Rifle Brigade , had been relocated nearby to Yurga . From December 1994 to April 27 , 1995 the division sent personnel to the First Chechen War : 82 officers , 43 corporals , 373 soldiers and sergeants . The division ' s troops , part of the Northern Group of Russian Forces , operated with the 74th Brigade . The division ' s troops cleared Chechen fighters from the administrative and residential buildings in Grozny ; defended a strategically important bridge over the river Sunzha on the outskirts of the village of Peter ; and defended the approaches to the village Ilinskoe from an invasion of Chechen rebels from Gudermes . In 2003 Gen Maj Vladimir Ashitok was named as the divisional commander . Previous commanders have included ( late 1990s - e2000s ) Lunev , Vasiliy Gen Maj ; M akushkin , Anatoliy Gen Maj ; commanded by Gen . Igor Puzanov 1983 - 86 . Since September 2000 , the division has been involved in the Second Chechen War . The 228th ' Sevastopol ' Motor Rifle Regiment , 85 MRD , the only Russian regiment to be fully equipped with the BMP - 3 , was reequipped with MT - LB armoured personnel carriers in 2000 because a six - month tour in Chechniya had reduced the service life of the vehicles by half . In other words , maintenance problems were much greater when the vehicles were conscript - crewed . Around 2007 - 2009 the composition of the division was reported as : The division appears to have been reorganised as the 32nd Separate Motor Rifle Brigade , formed from the 228th Motor Rifle Regiment ( possibly at Shilov ) as part of the Russian Ground Forces ' reorganisation in early 2009 .