Southern Military District

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Southern Military District
Южный военный округ
Emblem of the Southern Military District
Founded	22 October 2010
Country	Russia
Branch	Russian Ground Forces
Type	Military district
Part of	Ministry of Defence
Headquarters	Budennovsky Prospekt 43, Rostov-on-Don[1]
Engagements	Russo-Ukrainian War Invasion of Ukraine
Decorations	Order of the Red Banner Order of Suvorov
Website	Official website
Commanders
Current commander	Aleksandr Sanchik[2]
Insignia
Flag

Russian Armed Forces
Ministry of Defence
Staff
General Staff of the Armed Forces
Services (vid)
Russian Ground Forces Russian Aerospace Forces Russian Navy
Independent troops (rod)
Strategic Rocket Forces Russian Airborne Forces
Special operations force (sof)
Special Operations Forces
Other troops
Logistical Support
Military districts
Leningrad Military District Moscow Military District Southern Military District Central Military District Eastern Military District
History of the Russian military
Military history of Russia History of Russian military ranks Military ranks of the Soviet Union
v t e

The Order of the Red Banner Southern Military District (Russian: Южный военный округ, romanized: Yuzhnyy voyennyy okrug) is a military district of Russia.

It is one of the five military districts of the Russian Armed Forces, with its jurisdiction primarily within the North Caucasus region of the country, and Russian bases in South Caucasian post-Soviet states. The Southern Military District was created as part of the 2008 military reforms, and founded by Presidential Decree №1144 signed on September 20, 2010, to replace the North Caucasus Military District, and absorbing the military commands of the Black Sea Fleet and Caspian Flotilla.^[3][4] The district began operation on October 22, 2010, under the command of Colonel-General Aleksandr Galkin.

The Southern Military District is the smallest military district in Russia by geographic size. The district contains 13 federal subjects of Russia: Adygea, Astrakhan Oblast, Chechnya, Dagestan, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, Kalmykia, Karachay-Cherkessia, Krasnodar Krai, North Ossetia-Alania, Rostov Oblast, Stavropol Krai and Volgograd Oblast. After the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine was launched on 24 February 2022, six oblasts of Ukraine, partially occupied by Russia, were announced as being added to the district: the Crimea, Donetsk, Kherson, Lugansk, Sevastopol and Zaporozhye.^[4][5] These territories are components of Ukraine which since early 2022 have been partially or fully militarily occupied by Russian military forces.

The Southern Military District is headquartered in Rostov-on-Don, and its acting district commander is Colonel General Aleksandr Sanchik, who has served since November 2024.^[2]