7th Guards Air Assault Division (mountain)
Identification
This record matches Russia’s 7th Guards Mountain Air Assault Division (VDV), military unit 61756. Authoritative sources place the division in and around Novorossiysk, with subordinate elements also in Stavropol and, since 2017, Crimea. The supplied placemark labeled "7th Guards Air Assault Division HQ" sits near Stavropol and conflicts with those sources; it more likely reflects the Stavropol garrison cluster than the divisional headquarters. ([tass.ru](https://tass.ru/armiya-i-opk/20655911))
Disposition
Open-source order-of-battle references place the 108th Guards Air Assault Regiment in Novorossiysk, the 247th Guards Air Assault Regiment in Stavropol, the 1141st Artillery Regiment in Anapa, and air-defense elements in Novorossiysk. A 171st Separate Air Assault Battalion was formed in Feodosia in 2017; by late 2021 Russia instead reported a new Crimea-based regiment formed from the former 56th Air Assault Brigade, so the later status of the 171st battalion as a distinct unit is not publicly clear. ([tass.ru](https://tass.ru/obschestvo/11461519?utm_source=openai))
Role and geography
CNA assesses the division is operationally controlled by Airborne Forces HQ rather than by a combined-arms army, and is earmarked for mountainous operations in the Caucasus while also covering the Crimea axis. Its dispersed basing across Novorossiysk, Stavropol, Anapa, and Feodosia likely supports rapid movement along the Black Sea littoral and into the North Caucasus. TASS also described the Raevsky training area in Krasnodar Krai as becoming one of the VDV’s largest ranges under the 7th Division. ([cna.org](https://www.cna.org/reports/2021/08/Russian-Forces-in-the-Southern-Military-District.pdf))
Force posture
By 2021-2023, open-source order-of-battle work showed the division expanding beyond the older two-regiment model: CNA noted a new regiment being added in Crimea and a divisional tank battalion, while ISW’s 2023 order of battle listed the 56th, 108th, and 247th regiments plus reconnaissance, artillery, air-defense, and tank elements. CNA also assessed that the division still relied mainly on BMD-2 and BTR-D family vehicles, with only limited BMD-4M/BTR-MDM fielding in one 108th battalion. ([cna.org](https://www.cna.org/reports/2021/08/Russian-Forces-in-the-Southern-Military-District.pdf))
Recent employment
The division has been persistently employed on the southern axis of the war against Ukraine. ISW reported the 247th Regiment operating in Kherson Oblast in 2022 and the division on the east bank of the Dnipro in 2023. Official Russian reporting in July 2025 credited the division’s 108th and 247th regiments with taking Kamenske in Zaporizhzhia, and in March 2025 President Putin publicly named the 56th Regiment among units fighting in the Kursk area. ([understandingwar.org](https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-august-23?utm_source=openai))