HQ: Moscow Oblast, Vlasikha (Odintsovo-10), Commander: Colonel General Sergey Karakaev
This record aligns with the Strategic Missile Forces’ main command complex at Vlasikha, Moscow Oblast. Russian reporting describes Vlasikha as the RVSN’s main garrison and places the service headquarters there; the military investigative directorate for the RVSN is also based in Vlasikha. As of January 3, 2026, Russian Ministry of Defense reporting still identified Colonel General Sergey Karakaev as commander. ([ria.ru](https://ria.ru/20260103/komandovanie-2066147725.html?utm_source=openai))
Vlasikha is not just an administrative address. In December 2014, RVSN headquarters stated that the service’s Central Command Post would keep its functions despite activation of Russia’s National Defense Management Center, supporting an assessment that the Vlasikha complex remains an operational strategic command-and-control node. Earlier reporting on RVSN military council activity in Vlasikha also emphasized stable control of troops and weapons as a core task. ([ria.ru](https://ria.ru/20141203/1036325909.html?utm_source=openai))
From this headquarters, the RVSN oversees Russia’s land-based ICBM force. Independent estimates published in 2025-2026 assess the service at three missile armies, about 12 divisions, and roughly 310 operational missile systems carrying around 930 warheads; Karakaev stated in December 2023 that the force deliberately retains a two-component structure of silo-based and mobile systems. ([thebulletin.org](https://thebulletin.org/premium/2025-05/russian-nuclear-weapons-2025/?utm_source=openai))
The broader support and education network tied to this command includes the Peter the Great Military Academy of the Strategic Missile Forces and its branch, which Russian MoD reporting referenced in January 2025. Older MoD reporting also identified RVSN training centers for junior specialists in Pereslavl-Zalessky, Ostrov, Kapustin Yar, and Plesetsk, which is broadly consistent with the distributed footprint reflected in the supplied metadata. ([ria.ru](https://ria.ru/20250106/minoborony-1992628024.html?utm_source=openai))
One supplied placemark, Kosvinsky Kamen, matches long-running open-source reporting on a hardened alternate strategic command facility in the northern Urals. GlobalSecurity and other analytical literature describe the site as an alternate or backup command post and sometimes associate it with the “Perimeter” retaliatory command system, but Russian authorities do not publicly confirm the exact role; that linkage should be treated as plausible open-source assessment rather than settled official fact. ([globalsecurity.org](https://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/russia/kosvinsky.htm?utm_source=openai))
military unit 49494, part of the "Perimeter" automatic nuclear weapons control system.
military unit 49494
military unit 49494
military unit 43176, HQ: Vladimir-21, Commander: Lieutenant General Oleg Glazunov
military unit 71380
military unit 43176
military unit 43189, Commander: Major General Vladimir Kvashin
military unit 43189
military unit 29452, HQ: Orenburg-40, Commander: Major-General Sergey Talatynnik
military unit 33790, Commander: Major General Nikolay Aleshin
military unit 33790
military unit 33790-А (military unit 12407)
military unit 33790-B
military unit 33790-V
military unit 25516
military unit 33925
military unit 69792
military unit 74306
military unit 56653
military unit 32193
military unit 25850
military unit 20003, Automated control complex for a massive retaliatory nuclear strike "Perimeter"
military unit 25453
military unit 26180
military unit 77126
It is understood that there's a massive underground facility housing a strategic command post.
According to one recent account ["We Keep Building Nukes For All the Wrong Reasons", By Bruce G. Blair, The Washington Post Sunday, May 25, 2003; Page B01] "Kosvinsky is regarded by U.S. targeteers as the crown jewel of the Russian wartime nuclear command system, because it can communicate through the granite mountain to far-flung Russian strategic forces using very-low-frequency (VLF) radio signals that can burn through a nuclear war environment. The facility is the critical link to Russia's "dead hand" communications network, designed to ensure semi-automatic retaliation to a decapitating strike. (https://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/russia/kosvinsky.htm)
