22nd Separate Guards Special Purpose Brigade

On 15 March 1985, it was moved to Lashkar Gah and fought in the Soviet–Afghan War. The brigade received a zone of responsibility of 1,100 km along the front and 250 km in depth towards Pakistan. Part of the brigade began fighting in April 1985, having stood in the way of caravans of weapons and drugs coming from Pakistan and Iran.

Formed in December 1986, the 411th detachment, deployed in the province of Farah, was responsible for controlling the caravan routes from Iran. In total, the 22nd brigade alone lost 199 troops in Afghanistan and killed more than 5,000 Mujahideen.[2]

In 1989, elements of the brigade deployed to participate in the Angolan Civil War. In August 1988, the brigade moved to Pirəkəşkül in Azerbaijan and participated in the First Nagorno-Karabakh War. Elements of the brigade have participated in the Black January, the First Chechen War, where it took part in the Kizlyar-Pervomayskoye hostage crisis. The Brigade returned to participate in the Second Chechen War. In 2001, the brigade received its Guards title in gratitude for its actions in Chechenya.

In June 1992, the brigade moved to Stepnoy, Rostov Oblast[3] in the Southern Military District, where it is still located today.[4]

In April 2023, it was assessed that the brigade had lost 90-95% of its forces in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. [5]