2nd Guards Tamanskaya Motor Rifle Division The 2nd Guards Motor Rifle ' Tamanskaya ' Order of October Revolution , Red Banner , Order of Suvorov Division named after M . I . Kalinin , also known as the Tamanskaya Division , Taman Division and Taman Guards ( Cyrillic : 2 - я гвардейская мотострелковая Таманская ордена Октябрьской Революции Краснознаменная ордена Суворова дивизия имени М . И . Калинина , " Guards Motor Rifle Tamanskaya Division " ) , was one of the most famous divisions of the Russian Ground Forces . The division was deployed in the Moscow Military District , based near Aprelevka , in the Moscow suburbs : its various subunits occupied a vast complex of buildings and sites to the north and northwest of the town . The two most important ' sub - bases ' in the area are Kalininets and Kobyakovo . It was one of the Russian Army ' s ' constant readiness ' divisions , meaning that it was required to have at least 80 % manpower and 100 % equipment strength at all times ; it is thus readily deployable . As a motor rifle division , its role was comparable to western mechanised infantry division s . The division was disbanded in mid - 2009 , being split into two new motor rifle brigades . After 2009 , the main successor of the division was the 5th Guards Separate , Order of the October Revolution , Red Banner , Order of Suvorov Brigade named after Kalinin . Recent history . The Division fought at Smolensk and during the Kerch - Eltigen Operation during the Second World War . The division has played a prominent role in two of the major political crises of recent Soviet and Russian history . In 1991 , it was one of the divisions deployed in Moscow as part of the hardline coup attempt against the Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev ; however , it was a tank unit attached to the division that switched sides at the decisive point in the coup ' s course . Boris Yeltsin delivered a speech standing on top of tank no . 110 , strengthening his own position significantly , both domestically and abroad . Two years later , the division once again came to Yeltsin ' s rescue , during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis . The stand - off between the Russian Parliament and Yeltsin , against the backdrop of massive public demonstrations in Moscow against Yeltsin ' s government , had by the 2 October brought Russia to the brink of civil war . Between 2 and 4 October , the army considered its position . By sunrise of the 4th , they had given their support to Yeltsin . That day , tanks from the Tamanskaya Division opened fire on the Parliament building , where the Parliament ' s supporters were barricaded . This episode consolidated Yeltsin ' s power ; it was the deadliest street fighting in Moscow since 1917 . Since then , the division has seen service in Chechnya : it is known to have contributed to the force that brought the republic back under Russian control in 1999 and 2000 , during the Second Chechen War . A ' tactical group ' from the 15th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment deployed to Chechnya in early 2000 , serving in the south of the republic and the Argun Gorge after the end of major combat operations to maintain security . In 2004 , it was visited by a delegation of foreign military attaches . The Kalininets base has also recently provided the venue for the Miss Russian Army contest . The division has been slated for disbandment in 2009 , with two brigades being created from its existing subunits . Each brigade will include about 7 , 500 personnel with one mounted on BMP - 3 tracked vehicles while the other using BTR - 80 and BTR - 90 wheeled vehicles . The two brigades , according to Warfare . ru , are the 5th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade in the Moscow Military District , and the 8th Separate Mountain Motor Rifle Brigade in Chechniya . Rearmament in 2007 . On the 22 January 2007 , the Russian news agency Interfax reported comments from the commander of the Moscow Military District , Col . General Vladimir Bakin . He stated that the Tamanskaya Division ' s 1st Guards Motor Rifle Regiment had been re - equipped with a battalion of T - 90 main battle tank s , replacing its old T - 80 s , a battalion of BTR - 80 armoured personnel carriers ( this presumably refers to the modernised BTR - 80A variant , which has improved firepower and armour , among other things ) , as well as a battalion of new self - propelled howitzers and ' C2 ' command and control systems . Bakin also said that the regiment ' s 3rd Battalion had begun re - equipping with the BMP - 3 infantry fighting vehicle , of which the regiment as a whole was due to receive 129 by the end of the year . Furthermore , according to Interfax : " " Bakin stated that the First Guards Regiment had already undergone training for operating new materiel . " The regiment was the first in the Russian army to successfully master new arms and materiel . Last year , the regimental personnel were graded highly on their performance , he said . " " This rearmament may represent the first publicly known deployment of the T - 90 in the Russian Army outside of the 5th Guards ' Don ' Tank Division , based at Kyakhta in the Siberian Military District , which has been entirely equipped with such tanks in recent years . There have been rumours in circulation for some time now that all the T - 90s currently in service were to be accumulated in the Tamanskaya Division , but these rumours lack reliable sources . If any such move is to occur , it may take place in 2007 , but January ' s partial rearmament of the division does not seem to signal the beginning of such a move , since the T - 90s and other modern armoured vehicles now with the division are newly purchased ones . Subordinated units and fighting strength . As of 2004 , the Tamanskaya Division consisted of the following units : Overall , the division numbered around 12 , 000 soldiers . Its principal vehicles were the T - 90 and T - 80 main battle tank s , BTR - 80 armoured personnel carrier and the BMP - 2 and BMP - 3 infantry fighting vehicle s .