For the Second Time in a Year, Russia Has Deployed the 71st Division’s Units to Belarus. What Kind of Unit Is It?

For the second time in 2025, Russia has deployed units of the newly formed 71st Guards Motor Rifle Division to Belarus.

The soldiers of this formation were identified in photographs after the arrival of the first Russian military and equipment to participate in Zapad 2025.

Also, more photos of them were published in the announcement of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) exercises in Belarus in September this year.

The 71st Guards Motor Rifle Division will be formed by reorganizing the 200th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade in 2024-2025, as mentioned in the article “How Russia is Reorganizing its Troops on Example of Increasing Pressure in Zaporizhzhia.”

According to open sources, the unit has been involved in the aggression against Ukraine since 2014. Some servicemen of the 200th Brigade were awarded medals “For the Return of Crimea”, and then there were facts of participation of the unit’s subunits in the battles for Luhansk, Debaltseve and the 32nd checkpoint in 2014-2015.

After the start of the large-scale invasion, part of the offensive was in the Kharkiv region. During the Ukrainian Armed Forces counteroffensive in September 2022 in the Kharkiv region, many pieces of equipment of the Ukrainian Defense and Security Forces brigade were captured as trophies.

Over the past decade, Russia has been transitioning to a divisional and regimental structure, as well as other organizational changes, including the restoration of the Leningrad Military District. It is in this district that the 71st Guards Motor Rifle Brigade is stationed as part of the 14th Army Corps. Read more about the structure of the district in the article by military historian Andrii Haruk.

At the end of April 2025, the division’s units were already moving to Belarus, as officially stated, to participate in the May 9 parade.

However, according to Radio Liberty, citing information from the Community of Railway Workers of Belarus, 28 cargo platforms with equipment were sent from Russia and much more equipment was brought in than was shown at the parade.

It is not known which units of the 71st Division were deployed to Belarus in both cases. Sources in the Security and Defense Forces of Ukraine indicate that the division’s two motorized rifle regiments are currently fighting separately in two directions and are on the offensive:

• 126th Coastal Defence Brigade in Chasiv Yar
• 127th Motor Rifle Division in the Sumy region

The division itself continues the process of formation and is included in the number of 10 new divisions to be created in Russia by the end of this year, as stated by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi.

Therefore, it is likely that the division’s support and command and control units were transferred to Belarus. The deployment and training of these units will be an element of the combat cohesion of the division. For this purpose, the territory of Belarus will be used.