Central Asian Border District Explained

The Red Banner Central Asian Border District (Russian: Краснознамённый Среднеазиатский пограничный округ) was a district of the Soviet KGB Border Guards. It had its headquarters in Ashgabad. It guarded the Afghan-Soviet (without the strip along the Wakhan District) and the Iranian-Soviet border. The sea border of the district extended halfway along the southern line of Soviet territorial waters in the Caspian Sea until it met the terrain of the Red Banner Trans-Caucasus Border District.

History

On March 8, 1939, the Central Asian Border Troops District was created. On September 7, 1939, the 26th separate Murgab border commandant's office was formed.[1] [2]

Second World War

During the war, border guards of the Central Asian District detained several thousand violators, including intelligence agents of enemy states.

In 1942, from the border guards of the Central Asian and Kazakh border districts, the 162nd Central Asian Rifle Division (3rd formation of the 162nd Rifle Division) was formed, which became part of the 70th Army. Also, at the base of the military units of the district, snipers were being trained to be sent to the front.

By order of the NKVD of the USSR dated June 5, 1943, in order to more effectively manage the border units, the district department was renamed the “Department of Border Troops of the Tajik District” and relocated to the city of Stalinabad (now Dushanbe). At the same time, the Office of Border Troops of the Turkmen District was also created.

Post-war period

On February 24, 1954, the Tajik Border District, which at that time was part of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs, was renamed back to the Central Asian border district.On March 13, 1963, according to the order of the KGB under the Council of Ministers of the USSR, the Central Asian Border District was formed on the basis of the Central Asian and Turkmen districts with administration in Ashgabat. At the same time, an Operational Military Department was formed in Dushanbe with subordination to the Central Asian District.

In 1978, the Nebit-Dag border detachment was formed.

Since the spring of 1980, after the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan, the Central Asian Border District, by decision of the USSR government, participated in blocking the Afghan Mujahideen on the distant approaches to the state border.

Seven border detachments of the Central Asian District and one detachment of the Eastern District operated on the territory of Afghanistan at a distance of up to 100 kilometers from the border. Motor maneuver groups were sent, operating throughout the Afghan War (see Soviet Border Troops).[3] From the deployment points of detachments on the territory of the USSR, Air Assault Maneuver Groups were sent to Afghanistan to conduct combat operations (see Soviet Border Troops).

After the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan, in order to strengthen the border units on the Soviet-Afghan border, mortar divisions were formed in the Takhta-Bazar, Kerkin, Pyanj, Khorog, Termez and Moscow detachments.

To further strengthen border security in Gorno-Badakhshan, on August 18, 1990, at the base of the Operational Military Group of Eastern Border District in the settlement Ishkashim, the Tajik SSR created the Ishkashim border detachment with a personnel of 1390 people, which was transferred to the Central Asian Border District.

After the collapse of the USSR

On November 8, 1992, by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation, the Central Asian Border District was officially disbanded, although it actually ceased to exist long before this date. After the collapse of the USSR, in some former Soviet republics, common border troops were maintained for several months, with a unified command in Moscow.

Border troops and parts of the district on the territory of Uzbekistan came under its jurisdiction in March 1992.[4] Border detachments on the territory of Turkmenistan, according to an interstate agreement, remained under the jurisdiction of Russia until December 20, 2000.[5] [6] The border detachments of the former Central Asian border district located on the territory of Republic of Tajikistan, due to the Tajik Civil War, were under the jurisdiction of Russia for a long period. During the division of the Eastern Border District in August 1992 between Kazakhstan and Russia, the Murghab border detachment also became one of these detachments. In November 2004, all border detachments of the former Central Asian district on the territory of Tajikistan were transferred to the Armed Forces of the Republic of Tajikistan.[7]

The new Uzbek River Force was raised from the Termez Brigade of Frontier Escort Ships, formerly subordinated to the Central Asian Border District, which had protected the Soviet-Afghan border at the Amu Darya.[8] [9]

Composition of the district

Composition of the Central Asian Border District before the collapse of the USSR, units are listed in order from east to west:[10]

District Commanders

Incomplete list of district commanders (chiefs of troops):[1] [11] [12]

Heroes of the Soviet Union

Military personnel of the Central Asian border district who participated in the Afghan War, awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union:

Sm. also

Notes

  1. Web site: История создания и охраны среднеазиатской границы СССР. В. В. Терещенко. Ведущий научный сотрудник ЦПМ ФСБ РФ . 2015-12-03 . 2015-12-08 . https://web.archive.org/web/20151208143513/http://www.vestarchive.ru/2013-2/2600-istoriia-sozdaniia-i-ohrany-sredneaziatskoi-granicy-sssr.pdf. live.
  2. Web site: Protection of the borders of the Soviet state (1917-1991). Website of the Border Service of the FSB of Russia . 2015-12-03 . 2012-05-15 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120515065111/http://ps.fsb.ru/history/general/text.htm%21id%3D10320628%40fsbArticle.html . dead.
  3. Mark Galeotti, Jane's Intelligence Review, 1997.
  4. Web site: Materials of the border troops NSS of the Republic of Uzbekistan . 2015-12-03 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160304065633/http://www.skpw.ru/Uzbek_mater.htm . 2016-03-04 . dead.
  5. Web site: 11 August - Border Guards Day of Turkmenistan . 2015-12-03 . 2018-05-31 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180531231234/http://www.infoabad.com/vs-o-turkmenistane/11-avgusta-den-pogranichnikov-turkmenistana.html . live.
  6. Web site: Anton Alekseev. Center for Analysis of Strategies and technologies. Eastern Faculty of St. Petersburg State University . 2015-12-07 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160306180435/http://www.cast.ru/journal/2002/3_2002turkmen/?form=print . 2016-03-06 . dead.
  7. Web site: Goodbye Pamir! Russian border guards handed over the Ishkashim border detachment to their Tajik colleagues . 2015-12-03 . https://web.archive.org/web/20151208100013/http://www.centrasia.ru/newsA.php?st=1101139200 . 2015-12-08 . dead.
  8. Web site: Uzbek Navy: past, present and future. 2020-10-31. rusnavy.com.
  9. Web site: 22nd independent Border Guard Ship Brigade .
  10. Web site: Border troops of the KGB of the USSR by district in the late 80s. . 2015-12-03 . 2017-07-29 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170729190255/http://www.soldat.ru/force/sssr/sp/pv-okr.html . live.
  11. https://docviewer.yandex.kz/?url=http%3A%2F%2FCyberLeninka.ru%2Farticle%2Fn%2Fkrasnoznamennyy-vostochnyy-pogranichnyy-okrug-istoriya-sozdaniya-i-razvitiya.pdf&name=krasnoznamennyy-vostochnyy-pogranichnyy-okrug-istoriya-sozdaniya-i-razvitiya.pdf&lang=ru&c=565ca12bd80e «Краснознаменный Восточный пограничный округ (История создания и развития)». В. В. Терещенко. Ведущий научный сотрудник ЦПМ ФСБ РФ
  12. Web site: "Red Banner Central Asian Border District of the KGB." History of domestic intelligence services and law enforcement agencies. Historical website of Valentin Mzareulov . 2015-12-03 . 2015-11-17 . https://web.archive.org/web/20151117125903/http://shieldandsword.mozohin.ru/kgb5491/troops/border_guard/middle_asia.htm . live.

References

External links

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