| Unit Name: | 35th Separate Guards Volgograd-Kiev Orders of Lenin, Suvorov and Kuzov Red Banner Motor Rifle Brigade |
| Dates: | 2009–present |
| Branch: | Russian Ground Forces |
| Type: | Mechanized infantry |
| Size: | Brigade |
| Command Structure: | 41st Combined Arms Army, Central Military District |
| Garrison: | Aleysk |
| Battles: | World War II Russo-Ukrainian War |
| Decorations: |
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| Battle Honours: | |
| Battle Honours Label: | Honorifics |
| Current Commander: | Oleg Vladimirovich Kurygin |
The 35th Separate Guards Volgograd-Kiev Orders of Lenin, Suvorov and Kuzov Red Banner Motor Rifle Brigade (Russian: 35-я отдельная гвардейская мотострелковая бригада; Military Unit Number 41659) is a unit of the Russian Ground Forces.[1] It traces its history back to the formation of the Soviet 4th Tank Corps (later: 5th Guards Tank Corps) during the Second World War. It forms part of the 41st Combined Arms Army (CAA), and has its headquarters in a former Strategic Rocket Forces installation at Aleysk in Altai Krai.[2]
In accordance with State Committee of Defence (NKO) Order No. 724218сс оf 31 March 1942, the 4th Tank Corps was established in the Voronezh area in April 1942. By order of the NKO of the USSR No. 57 dated February 7, 1943, in recognition of the courage and heroism of its personnel, the 4th Tank Corps was awarded the "Guards" honorary title, and transformed into the 5th Guards Tank Corps.
In the final stages of the Battle of Stalingrad, the 4th Tank Corps was awarded the honorary title "Stalingrad" by NKO Order No. 42 of 27 January 1943.
The corps participated in the following operations:
On 14 September 1945, the corps was reorganized into a division.
On 14 September 1945, on the basis of the order of the NKO of the USSR No. 0013 dated June 10, 1945, the corps, within the overall demobilization process, was reorganised as the 5th "Stalingradsko-Kievskaya Order of Lenin Red Banner orders of Suvorov and Kutuzov" Guards Tank Division (First Formation). Immediately after the war the division was part of the 6th Guards Tank Army. From September 1945 to June 1957 the division formed part of the 6th Guards Tank Army (briefly 6th Guards Mechanised Army).
On 29 June 1957 the 5th Guards Tank Division became the 122nd Guards Motor Rifle Division.[4] From 1976 to 1989 it formed part of the 36th Army.
When the 41st Guards Rocket Division of the Strategic Rocket Forces disbanded in 2001, "for a long time" there was no decision on the future use of the empty Aleysk military garrison, containing housing, a school, three kindergartens, a swimming pool, and "an enormous amount of equipment that was discarded outside the city limits." "The maintenance of these facilities turned out to be too expensive for the small city of Aleysk." But a decision was made "at the beginning of summer [mid-2001]." A motor rifle division of the Siberian Military District was to arrive to replace the SRF personnel.[5] Later the division was identified as the 122nd Guards. Thus the 122nd Guards MGAD became a motor-rifle division.[6]
In 2009 (June) the division became the 35th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade.
The brigade allegedly took part in the war in Donbass in the Luhansk Oblast in 2014.
Major Leonid Shchotkin, a deputy battalion commander in the 35th Brigade, was reportedly captured in Chernihiv by Ukrainian forces on 26 February 2022.[7] Ukrainian forces claimed to have captured the commander of a tank platoon of the 35th Brigade after repelling an attempted Russian breakthrough near Chernihiv on 27 February.[8] A member was of the brigade was sentenced to imprisonment in a Ukrainian court for allegedly robbing and threatening to kill a civilian in the village of, Chernihiv Oblast in early March 2022.[9]
After the brigade began to take part in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, messages from relatives revealed that the brigade had suffered heavy losses near Chernihiv.[10]