32nd Air Defense Division
Identification
Best-fit identification is the Rzhev headquarters/command site of the 32nd Air Defense Division named for A.I. Pokryshkin. State and regional reporting repeatedly places the 32nd Division in Rzhev and describes it as part of the 6th Air and Air Defense Army; separate public records place military unit 40963 at the Rzhev garrison. ([vedtver.ru](https://vedtver.ru/news/society/novobrancy-32-j-divizii-pvo-prinjali-prisjagu-u-rzhevskogo-memoriala/))
Mission
Public reporting describes the division’s core tasks as standing combat duty for air defense, airspace reconnaissance, destruction of airborne attack means, and participation in missile defense. Earlier Russian MoD press reporting on the Rzhev air-defense formation said it was responsible for aerospace security on Russia’s western approaches. ([vedtver.ru](https://vedtver.ru/news/society/novobrancy-32-j-divizii-pvo-prinjali-prisjagu-u-rzhevskogo-memoriala/))
Command post
Rzhev is not only a ceremonial garrison. A 2021 court record involving v/ch 40963 references the command post, an automated control systems center, and civilian engineers assigned to combat duty, indicating an active air-defense command-and-control node at the site. Public conscription-day events at the base in Rzhev also show a permanent installation with a military museum, equipment displays, and routine garrison support functions. ([sudact.ru](https://sudact.ru/regular/doc/NiWP0L6fR6g0/?utm_source=openai))
Lineage
The Rzhev formation traces its lineage to the Moscow Fighter Aviation Corps formed in August 1945. In October 2013 the predecessor 6th Air Defense Brigade received the honorific name of Marshal of Aviation A.I. Pokryshkin, and local reporting states that on 1 December 2014 that brigade was reorganized as the 32nd Air Defense Division. ([tvernews.ru](https://tvernews.ru/news/117135/))
Geographic relevance
Tver regional-government reporting in late 2013 described the predecessor Rzhev brigade as covering objects, troops, and territory across 23 Russian federal subjects, underscoring the site’s role as a wide-area western-sector air-defense headquarters rather than a purely local point-defense post. Reporting from 2023-2024 still shows the division publicly active in Rzhev. ([tvernews.ru](https://tvernews.ru/news/165482/))