4th Air and Air Defense Forces Army
Identification
This record matches the Russian Aerospace Forces' 4th Guards Red Banner Army of the Air Force and Air Defense, subordinate to the Southern Military District. TASS identifies the army headquarters in Rostov-on-Don, and as of April 2025 the EGRUL-linked administrative record for military unit 40911 was registered at 89 Semashko Lane, Rostov-on-Don. ([tass.ru](https://tass.ru/info/2179391))
Command
Open-source attribution supports Vladimir Stanislavovich Kutsenko as the formation's commander, but this should be dated: EGRUL-based registry data listed him as commander of military unit 40911 as of April 2025, and Russian state media identified him in November 2023 as commander of the 4th Army of Air Force and Air Defense. On 9 October 2023, the formation was officially awarded the honorary title "Guards." ([companies.rbc.ru](https://companies.rbc.ru/id/1096165005144-federalnoe-kazennoe-uchrezhdenie-vojskovaya-chast-40911/))
Area
The army is a theater-level southern air command rather than a single base. TASS reported in October 2023 that its formations and units were deployed across the Southern and North Caucasian federal districts and Sevastopol; Southern Military District reporting in May 2018 placed army activity in Rostov Oblast, Krasnodar Krai, Stavropol Krai, and Crimea. ([tass.ru](https://tass.ru/politika/18952375))
Crimea posture
Crimea is a confirmed part of this headquarters' command footprint. TASS reported S-400-equipped regiments of the army assuming duty in Feodosiya in January 2017, Sevastopol in early 2018, and Dzhankoi in November 2018. A 2022 Fondation pour la Recherche Stratégique study also placed the Belbek, Gvardeyskoye, and Dzhankoi aviation regiments in Crimea under 4th Army command. ([tass.com](https://tass.com/defense/925059?utm_source=openai))
Operational relevance
Recent open sources tie the Rostov command element directly to regional air-defense and counter-UAS activity. In February 2024, Rossiyskaya Gazeta reported that the army command displayed intercepted Ukrainian drones and missiles said to have targeted Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District. Based on the HQ's Rostov location and the army's documented deployment span from the lower Don to Crimea and the North Caucasus, this site functions as a southern theater air-command node; that final point is an analytic inference from the cited deployment pattern, not a direct official statement. ([rg.ru](https://rg.ru/2024/02/25/reg-ufo/komandovanie-4-j-armii-vvs-i-pvo-pokazalo-kollekciiu-sbityh-bespilotnikov-vsu.html))