| Unit Name: | 16th Separate Guards Spetsnaz Brigade |
| Native Name: | 16-я отдельная гвардейская бригада специального назначения |
| Dates: | 1963-present |
| Country: | (1963–1991) (1991-present) |
| Branch: | Spetsnaz GRU |
| Garrison: | Tambov, Tambov Oblast |
| Commander1: | Colonel Konstantin Bushuyev |
The 16th Separate Guards Spetsnaz Brigade (Russian: 16-я отдельная гвардейская бригада специального назначения) is a Spetsnaz military formation of the Russian Federation subordinate to the Spetsnaz GRU. It is garrisoned in Tambov, Tambov Oblast. Its military unit number is 54607.[1] [2]
On January 26, 2019, the unit was given the title of "Guards" by presidential decree.[3]
The unit was formed on January 1, 1963, in Chuchkovo, Ryazan Oblast.[4]
During the Soviet-Afghan War at least one special purpose detachment was active from March 1985 to August 1988.[5]
They participated in the First Chechen War from late 1994 onwards and in the Second Chechen War from 1999 to 2006.[6]
In 2003, the unit changed garrison from Chuchkovo to Tambov.
The unit participated in a peacekeeping mission in Abkhazia shortly after the Russo-Georgian War. They were deployed there from December 2008 to October 2009.
| 1 | Colonel Alexander V. Shipka | 1963 | 1967 | |
| 2 | Colonel G. Ya. Fadeyev | 1967 | 1971 | |
| 3 | Colonel E. F. Chuprakov | 1971 | 1973 | |
| 4 | Colonel Semen M. Tarasov | 1973 | 1980 | |
| 5 | Colonel A. A. Ovcharov | 1980 | 1985 | |
| 6 | Colonel A. A. Nedelko | 1985 | 1989 | |
| 7 | Colonel A. M. Dementyev | 1989 | 1991 | |
| 8 | Colonel Yevgeny V. Tishin | 1992 | 1993 | |
| 9 | Colonel V. L. Korunov | 1993 | 1993 | |
| 10 | Lieutenant Colonel Alexander G. Fomin | 1993 | 1997 | |
| 11 | Colonel Vadim E. Loginov | 2003 | 2007? | |
| 12 | Lieutenant Colonel O. N. Marzak | November 2008 | October 2008 | |
| 13 | Colonel Andrei A. Slobodyan | October 2008 | October 2010? | |
| 14 | Colonel Konstantin Bushuyev | October 2010 | present |
Structure of the unit as of 2019: