12th Internal Troops Division
Identification
Best-fit open-source identification is the former headquarters of the 12th Internal Troops Division, military unit 5580, at 36 Ryazanskaya Street in Tula. A local veterans’ history of the formation states the division was formed in Tula on 9 June 1995, and open registry records list military unit 5580 at that address with registration dating to 1995. ([veteran5580vv.narod.ru](https://veteran5580vv.narod.ru/index/0-9))
Role
Available open sources describe the Tula formation as an internal-security command for central Russia rather than a conventional field-force division. The veterans’ history says it was created for public-order and public-safety tasks across seven oblasts of the central region; that is consistent with Rosgvardiya’s current district structure, which places Tula inside the Central Orsha-Khingan District. ([veteran5580vv.narod.ru](https://veteran5580vv.narod.ru/index/0-9))
Operational use
In September 1999, Radio Liberty reported that a composite regiment of the Tula Internal Troops division—about half the division—departed Tula for Chechnya with a large communications node. The report said the detachment was to guard especially important facilities, rail bridges, and roads, and to conduct patrol service. This is direct evidence that the Tula headquarters could generate expeditionary internal-security forces beyond its home region. ([svoboda.org](https://www.svoboda.org/a/24218400.html))
Current status
The original divisional designation is not publicly current. Rosgvardiya states that, after the creation of the National Guard service, the former Central regional command of the Internal Troops was reformed into the Central District; open registry data show military unit 5580 was liquidated on 24 January 2018; and official Rosgvardiya listings now place the Tula regional directorate at the same address, 36 Ryazanskaya Street. The site therefore remains an active Rosgvardiya administrative/security location, but open sources do not publicly confirm a still-active "12th Internal Troops Division" headquarters there as of March 12, 2026. ([rosguard.gov.ru](https://rosguard.gov.ru/ru/page/index/centralnyj-okrug-1?utm_source=openai))
Visibility limits
Publicly visible information for 36 Ryazanskaya is mostly administrative and registry data, not detailed installation reporting. Those sources support assessing the location as a command/administrative node, but they do not publicly confirm current barracks capacity, vehicle parks, or the resident mix of legacy military units versus territorial Rosgvardiya offices. ([rosguard.gov.ru](https://rosguard.gov.ru/ru/page/index/centralnyj-federalnyj-okrug?utm_source=openai))