3rd Separate Special Purpose Brigade
Identification
This record matches Military Unit 3214, the 3rd Separate Special Purpose Brigade of the Belarusian Internal Troops, based in Uruchie, Minsk. Official notices also place the Faculty of Internal Troops on the territory of Unit 3214 at 191 Independence Avenue, indicating that the mapped site is a large military compound rather than a single standalone building. ([president.gov.by](https://president.gov.by/en/events/visit-to-military-unit-no-3214-of-the-internal-troops-of-the-ministry-of-internal-affairs-in-uruchie))
SOBR linkage
Open sources corroborate that the Special Rapid Response Unit (SOBR) was reorganized into separate Military Unit 3032 on 16 March 2016. During Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s 28 July 2020 visit to Unit 3214, both brigade commander Vladimir Zhiznevsky and SOBR commander Aliaksandr Bykov were present, which supports an assessment that the brigade headquarters and SOBR command were at minimum closely integrated at this Minsk site. ([nashaniva.com](https://nashaniva.com/166839?utm_source=openai))
Mission and use
The site supports internal-security and special-operations tasks. On 28 July 2020, the president was shown special-purpose vehicles described for counter-terrorist and special operations and observed a special-forces battalion drill there; in June 2021 the brigade also ran reserve training at Unit 3214, and later exercises at its training center involved OMON, SOBR and Almaz in counter-diversion and hostage-rescue scenarios. ([president.gov.by](https://president.gov.by/en/events/visit-to-military-unit-no-3214-of-the-internal-troops-of-the-ministry-of-internal-affairs-in-uruchie))
Infrastructure
Procurement records from 2025-2026 indicate continuing investment across the compound at 191 Independence Avenue: project changes for barracks sanitary repairs, modernization of a vehicle storage facility at 191/17, and a January 2026 repair tender for a Faculty of Internal Troops barracks building at 191/8. Together these records show a multi-building military and educational complex with barracks and equipment-storage infrastructure. ([bicotender.ru](https://www.bicotender.ru/proektnye-raboty-geodeziia-kartografiia-inzenernye-izyskaniia-kadastrovye-raboty/kapitalnyi-remont-san-uzlov-kazarmy-inv-no-s-voiskovoi-casti-g-minsk-pr-t-nezavisimosti-minsk-tender302606613.html))
Political relevance
This compound became politically salient ahead of the 2020 Belarus election crisis: Lukashenka visited it on 28 July 2020 and told personnel to protect police during street actions. The EU later listed former SOBR commander Aliaksandr Bykov for repression, arbitrary arrests and ill-treatment of peaceful demonstrators after the 2020 election, and separately held the Internal Troops leadership responsible for similar abuses by internal-troops forces. ([president.gov.by](https://president.gov.by/en/events/visit-to-military-unit-no-3214-of-the-internal-troops-of-the-ministry-of-internal-affairs-in-uruchie))