Districts' boundaries
Executive Summary
As of 2024, the Russian Federation organizes its general-purpose forces into five territorial military districts and the Northern Fleet, which holds military-district status. The districts and headquarters are: Leningrad Military District (HQ Saint Petersburg); Moscow Military District (HQ Moscow); Southern Military District (HQ Rostov-on-Don); Central Military District (HQ Yekaterinburg); Eastern Military District (HQ Khabarovsk); Northern Fleet, military-district equivalent (HQ Severomorsk). In early 2024, the former Western Military District was split to reestablish the Leningrad and Moscow Military Districts. Boundaries are defined principally by the assignment of federal subjects to each district; official, consolidated boundary maps are not routinely published in open sources.
Boundary Definition and Public Documentation
Military district boundaries are determined by Russian presidential decrees and Ministry of Defense (MoD) orders that assign federal subjects to a district for military administration. Detailed cartographic delineations are rarely released publicly; instead, boundaries are understood through lists of constituent federal subjects and MoD statements. The 2010 reform created four districts (Western, Southern, Central, Eastern); a 2014 decision established the Northern Fleet Joint Strategic Command; in 2021 the Northern Fleet received military-district status; and in 2024 Russia reestablished the Moscow and Leningrad Military Districts by dividing the Western Military District. As of late 2024, a single official open-source roster enumerating all federal subjects for the newly reestablished districts had not been widely disseminated; therefore, some edge cases rely on consistent reporting across official and semi-official outlets.
Leningrad Military District — Boundary Overview
The Leningrad Military District covers Russia’s northwest theater. Public reporting consistently places Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast, Pskov Oblast, Novgorod Oblast, the Republic of Karelia, and the Kaliningrad Oblast exclave within this district. During 2023–2024, Russian state media and MoD-linked outlets indicated that Murmansk and Arkhangelsk Oblasts, the Komi Republic, and the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, previously tied administratively to the Northern Fleet for certain land forces, are being realigned under the Leningrad MD, while the Northern Fleet retains naval operational control in the Arctic. A consolidated, authoritative MoD list confirming all northern allocations had not been published in open sources by late 2024.
Moscow Military District — Boundary Overview
The Moscow Military District covers central western Russia from the Belarus and Ukraine borders eastward across the Volga–Oka interfluve. Moscow City and Moscow Oblast are core to the district. Open-source reporting consistently places the following oblasts within the Moscow MD after the 2024 reorganization: Smolensk, Bryansk, Kaluga, Tula, Ryazan, Vladimir, Ivanovo, Yaroslavl, Tver, Oryol, Kursk, Belgorod, Voronezh, Lipetsk, and Tambov. Additional adjacent central oblasts may be included, but an official, comprehensive roster for the reestablished district has not been broadly released in the public domain.
Southern Military District — Boundary Overview
The Southern Military District covers Russia’s southwest and the North Caucasus, plus the Black Sea and Caspian littorals. Federal subjects under SMD are consistently listed in open sources as: Rostov Oblast; Krasnodar Krai; Stavropol Krai; Volgograd and Astrakhan Oblasts; the Republics of Adygea, Kalmykia, Dagestan, Chechnya, Ingushetia, North Ossetia–Alania, Kabardino-Balkaria, and Karachay–Cherkessia; and, per Russian domestic law, the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol. After September 2022, Russia also claimed the inclusion of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson into SMD administrative structures; these claims are not recognized by most UN member states.
Central Military District — Boundary Overview
The Central Military District spans the Volga–Ural region and much of Western Siberia. Open-source and official materials consistently place the following within CMD: the Republics of Bashkortostan and Tatarstan; Orenburg, Samara, Ulyanovsk, Saratov, and Penza Oblasts; Perm Krai and the Udmurt Republic; the Urals cluster of Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk, Kurgan, and Tyumen Oblasts (including Khanty-Mansi and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrugs); and Western Siberian subjects such as Omsk, Novosibirsk, Tomsk, and Kemerovo Oblasts, plus Altai Krai and the Altai Republic. The Republics of Tyva (Tuva) and Khakassia are also administered within the CMD. District boundaries with the Eastern MD run east of this West Siberian belt.
Eastern Military District — Boundary Overview
The Eastern Military District comprises the Russian Far East and the Trans-Baikal region. Federal subjects consistently listed include: Zabaykalsky Krai and the Republic of Buryatia; Irkutsk Oblast and the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia); Amur Oblast and the Jewish Autonomous Oblast; Khabarovsk Krai and Primorsky Krai; Sakhalin Oblast (including the Kuril Islands); Kamchatka Krai; Magadan Oblast; and Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. The district covers land borders with China, Mongolia, and North Korea, and maritime areas of the Sea of Japan, Sea of Okhotsk, and North Pacific.
Northern Fleet (Military-District Equivalent) — Area of Responsibility
The Northern Fleet retains military-district-level status focused on the Arctic maritime theater, with primary bases in Murmansk Oblast (e.g., Severomorsk) and key naval-industrial infrastructure in Arkhangelsk Oblast (e.g., Severodvinsk). Its operational area encompasses the Barents and White Seas and Arctic archipelagos such as Novaya Zemlya and Franz Josef Land. During the 2023–2024 reforms, open sources indicate adjustments to administrative control of land forces in Russia’s European Arctic, with naval operational control remaining under the Northern Fleet and certain ground-force administrative responsibilities reportedly shifting toward the Leningrad MD; a definitive, publicly released MoD document detailing the final split was not available in late 2024.
Air and Air Defense Alignment to District Boundaries
Aerospace Forces Air and Air Defense Armies generally align with district territories: the 6th covers the northwest (aligned with the Leningrad MD); the 4th covers the south (Southern MD); the 14th covers the central and Ural–West Siberian zone (Central MD); and the 11th covers the far east (Eastern MD). Naval aviation elements align with their respective fleets and the Northern Fleet’s Arctic area. These functional air defense boundaries broadly track military district lines but may be adjusted by service-level orders.
Foreign Border Adjacencies by District
The Leningrad MD abuts Finland and the Baltic littoral and includes the Kaliningrad exclave bordering Poland and Lithuania. The Moscow MD adjoins Belarus and parts of the Russia–Ukraine frontier. The Southern MD borders Georgia and Azerbaijan and controls the Black Sea and Caspian littorals, including Crimea and Sevastopol under Russian domestic law. The Eastern MD borders China, Mongolia, and North Korea and fronts the Pacific maritime approaches. The Northern Fleet’s region includes Russia’s land border with Norway in the Arctic and the Barents and White Sea littorals.
2010–2024 Boundary Changes — Key Milestones
On 1 December 2010, Russia consolidated its military administration into four districts: Western, Southern, Central, and Eastern. On 1 December 2014, the Northern Fleet Joint Strategic Command was created to manage Arctic operations; in 2021 the Northern Fleet was granted military-district status. Following Russia’s 2022 claim to annex four Ukrainian regions, domestic legal acts placed them under Southern MD structures, though these claims are internationally disputed. In early 2024, the Western MD was dissolved and the Moscow and Leningrad MDs were reestablished, realigning boundaries across Russia’s northwest and center-west; as of late 2024, a comprehensive open-source MoD list detailing every affected federal subject had not been published.
Caveats on Boundary Certainty and Updates
Military district boundaries for long-standing districts (Southern, Central, Eastern) are consistently documented in open sources. The 2024 reestablishment of the Leningrad and Moscow MDs introduced boundary adjustments for which multiple official and semi-official announcements exist, but a single authoritative, consolidated MoD roster has not been widely released. Where open sources diverge, this report notes the uncertainty. Any further reassignment of federal subjects is typically enacted via presidential decrees or MoD orders and may not be immediately reflected in public-facing materials.