810th Guards Naval Infantry Brigade

The history of the unit began with the formation of the 309th Separate Naval Infantry Battalion of the Black Sea Fleet in accordance with a 30 April 1966 Ministry of Defense directive. The battalion was formed from the 1st Naval Infantry Battalion of the 336th Separate Guards Naval Infantry Regiment of the Baltic Fleet and also included personnel from the 135th Motor Rifle Regiment of the 295th Motor Rifle Division of the Transcaucasian Military District. Under the command of Colonel I. I. Sysolyatin, the battalion was the only naval infantry unit of the Black Sea Fleet. The battalion was expanded into the 810th Separate Naval Infantry Regiment on 15 December 1967, a date celebrated as the unit anniversary, with the absorption of the 1st Naval Infantry Battalion of the 336th Regiment and an amphibious tank company from the 61st Separate Naval Infantry Regiment of the Northern Fleet.[1]

In 1967, naval infantry from the unit were first deployed to Egypt as a reinforced landing force under the command of Major N. Dobrynin. A reinforced naval infantry battalion departed for Egypt in May 1969 under the command of Lieutenant Colonel I. Orekhov. A reinforced naval infantry battalion participated in exercises with the Syrian Navy in 1972 under the command of Lieutenant Colonel A. Sapko. The regiment participated in the Okean maneuvers in May 1969 in Egypt and Syria, the mid-1971 Yug exercises, and in the fleet exercises Bereg-77 and Bereg-79. A tactical group participated in a mock amphibious landing in the Caspian Sea in July 1980.[1]

The 810th completed its reorganization into the 810th Separate Naval Infantry Brigade on 20 November 1979, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Vladimir Viktorovich Rublyov. As a separate naval infantry brigade, it was tasked with capturing and holding a beachhead, landing before the main forces, and assisting ground forces operating on the coast. A reinforced battalion from the brigade under the command of Major V. I. Rudenko participated in Exercise Zapad-81 in the Baltic Sea during July 1981, while another battalion group under the command of Lieutenant Colonel V. N. Abashkin participated in joint exercises with Syria. The brigade participated in the Shchit-82 strategic exercises and in June 1983 for the first time in the Black Sea Fleet the brigade conducted a live fire night airborne landing exercise.[1]

A naval infantryman and PT-76 tank from the brigade during an American naval goodwill visit, 1989

Presented the Honorary Banner of the Military Council of the Soviet Navy and Komsomol Central Committee in 1983 and the Transferable Red Banner of the Military Council of the navy in 1985, for its training performance, the 810th was inspected by Marshal Viktor Kulikov in 1987. The brigade was praised by the Minister of Defense for its performance in the Osen-88 exercises. Elements of the brigade were involved in special combat missions from 10 July to 9 September 1989, 20 June to 16 August 1990, January to April 1990, October 1992, 23 September to 7 October 1993 and 2 to 20 November 1993 under the general command of Black Sea Fleet commander-in-chief Admiral Igor Kasatonov.[1] During the 1991 August coup, the Black Sea Fleet command like much of the military leadership supported the coup of the State Emergency Committee, dispatching more than 500 naval infantrymen from the brigade with full combat gear to the Belbek airport on 20 August in order to prevent President Mikhail Gorbachev from being rescued from house arrest at his dacha in Foros.[2] The naval infantrymen returned to their base after the failure of the coup and arrival of Vice President Alexander Rutskoy to free Gorbachev on 21 August.[3]

Following the Black January 1990 repression of Azerbaijani nationalists in Baku, 525 naval infantrymen from the brigade, including the 880th and 882nd Separate Naval Infantry Battalions and a company of the 888th Separate Reconnaissance Battalion of the brigade, were sent into the city to enforce martial law, replacing Caspian Flotilla sailors manning checkpoints and guarding government buildings and military installations on 26 January; they returned to Sevastopol in early April.[4][5] This deployment had a lasting impact on the Ukrainian commander of the 880th Battalion, Major Vitaily Rozhmanov, who explained that it was during the intervention in Baku that "we realized we were abandoned to fight with the Azerbaijani people, to perform police duties, to do everything to intimidate people, kill their national spirit and all faith and desire for freedom" when he and the 880th Battalion swore allegiance to Ukraine on 22 February 1992. In response, Kasatonov, determined to keep the fleet under Russian control, disbanded the battalion and dispersed its personnel.[6] Those who chose Ukrainian allegiance would form the first Ukrainian Naval Infantry unit, the 1st Separate Naval Infantry Battalion, when the Ukrainian Navy was created on 1 July 1993.[7][8]

The brigade participated in joint exercises with Georgia and joint exercises with Ukraine Si-Briz and Farvater mira in June 1994. That year, the authorities of Saratov Oblast signed a patronage agreement with the unit. It was reorganized as the 264th Separate Naval Infantry Regiment on 30 April 1998 but in response to unit veterans, it was renumbered as the 810th to preserve its old designation on 1 February 1999.[9] A landing reconnaissance company of the brigade departed to fight in the Second Chechen War on 11 September 1999. Eight soldiers were killed during the war. 217 personnel were decorated for their actions, including Captain V. V. Karpushenko, made a Hero of Russia. A monument to the soldiers killed in Chechnya was unveiled at the base of the regiment on 25 November 2000.[1]

A reinforced amphibious battalion from the brigade was deployed to Syria during the Russian military intervention in the Syrian civil war from July 2015 to January 2016 under the command of Lieutenant Colonel P. Klimenko, succeeded by Lieutenant Colonel Yan Sukhanov. The battalion was engaged in guarding and defending the Khmeimim Air Base. More than 600 personnel of the brigade were sent to Syria. Brigade sailor Aleksandr Pozynich was killed in action in November 2015 during a rescue mission for downed Russian pilots and posthumously awarded the Order of Courage.[10] For its performance in Syria, the brigade was awarded the Order of Zhukov on 3 March 2016.[11] In 2017, several officers from the brigade were sent to Syria as military advisers. Among these were brigade commander Colonel Dmitry Uskov and Major Sergey Bordov. Bordov was killed in action in April of that year and posthumously awarded the Order of Courage.[12] The brigade was awarded the Guards title on 29 January 2018.[13]

The following officers have commanded the brigade:[22]

• Colonel Ivan Ivanovich Sysolyatin (1966–1971)
• Colonel Lev Mikhailovich Zaytsev (1971–1974)
• Lieutenant Colonel Valentin Alekseyevich Yakovlev (1974–1978)
• Colonel Vladimir Viktorovich Rublyov (1978—1984)
• Lieutenant Colonel Anatoly Nikolayevich Kovtunenko (1984—1987)
• Colonel Anatoly Fyodorovich Domnenko (1987—1989)
• Colonel Anatoly Nikolayevich Kocheshkov (1989—1993)
• Colonel Aleksandr Yevgenyevich Smolyak (1993—1998)
• Colonel Oleg Yuryevich Roslyakov (1998—2003)
• Colonel Dmitry Vladimirovich Krayev (2003–2006)
• Colonel Eduard Aleksandrovich Zhivayev (July 2006–January 2010)
• Colonel Vladimir Anatolyevich Belyavsky (2010–2014)
• Colonel Oleg Yuryevich Tsokov (2014–2015)
• Colonel Dmitry Ivanovich Uskov (2015–2019)
• Colonel Sergey Nikolayevich Kens (2019–2021)
• Colonel Yan Aleksandrovich Sukhanov (2021)
• Colonel Aleksey Nikolayevich Sharov (2021–killed 22 March 2022)
• Colonel Aleksey Borisovich Berngard (2022–present)