History Since 1991
In 1994, the Russian Army was ordered into the breakaway southern republic of Chechnya by Yeltsin, then President of the Russian Federation, after the refusal of the separatist government to surrender to Moscow's authority, beginning the First Chechen War. Battalions of the Tula Division were attached to 'Group West' (the western element of the three-pronged invasion of Chechnya). They took part, in December that year, in the first Battle of Grozny, helping to capture the city's central railway station, which had proved to be one of the most difficult and costly strategic points in Grozny for the Russians to capture.
In March 1995, the battalions were transferred to the command of 'Group North' and continued fighting, notably around Argun. In May, they withdrew from Chechnya. The division's losses in the first war are unclear: 36 of its soldiers have been confirmed killed in action, but the number missing in action is around 200.
The Second Chechen War began in 1999. With Moscow determined to avoid a repeat of the quagmire that the first war had become, the Russian force committed in 1999 was larger, better equipped and better organised. The Tula Division's contribution to that force was the 51st and 119th Parachute Landing Regiments. Its losses in this war were still considerable but less than in the first: 67 of its soldiers were reported either killed or missing in action. For its actions in the second campaign, the Tula Division was awarded the MoD Pennant.
In 2001, after the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, paratroopers from the division were sent to Afghanistan to evacuate the staff of the Russian embassy in Kabul, so as to ensure their safety in the face of the American military campaign in support of the Northern Alliance's advance towards the city.
On 26 April 2004, the Tula Division celebrated its 60th anniversary.
Read more about this topic: 106th Guards Airborne Division (Russia)
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Every generation rewrites the past. In easy times history is more or less of an ornamental art, but in times of danger we are driven to the written record by a pressing need to find answers to the riddles of today.... In times of change and danger when there is a quicksand of fear under men’s reasoning, a sense of continuity with generations gone before can stretch like a lifeline across the scary present and get us past that idiot delusion of the exceptional Now that blocks good thinking.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)