Editing Russian Airborne Forces (section)

===Founding and reorganization===
The [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]] led to the dividing up of the former [[Soviet Armed Forces]] by the newly independent states. The Russian Airborne Forces were established on 7 May 1992 by a decree from the [[president of Russia|President of the Russian Federation]], [[Boris Yeltsin]]. He held a meeting with the heads of state of [[Kazakhstan]], [[Kyrgyzstan]], and [[Uzbekistan]] to determine the distribution of former Soviet military assets. During 1992 and 1993 many of the airborne units were transferred to the territory of Russia, as only two of the seven Soviet airborne divisions had been located in the former [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic]].{{sfn|Elfving|2021|page=6}} During this process the [[Russian General Staff]] wanted to prioritize maintaining control over the strategic assets of the Soviet military, which besides the [[Strategic Rocket Forces]] also included the Airborne Forces. There was initially an attempt to keep them under the joint command of the [[Commonwealth of Independent States]] (CIS), but the concept of the CIS unified forces fell apart by the summer of 1993, as the independent states took control over the units on their territories.{{sfn|Zaloga|1995|pages=291–293}}

The Russian Federation kept six of the seven divisions, which as of 1993 included:<ref name="army-review">{{Cite web |last1=Akvilyanov |first1=Yu. |last2=Berendeyev |first2=M. |title=Воздушно-десантные и аэромобильные войска |trans-title=Airborne and airmobile forces |lang=ru |work=Army Review |publisher=Russian Ministry of Defense |date=13 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230415190925/https://army.ric.mil.ru/Stati/item/483200/ |archive-date=15 April 2023 |url=https://army.ric.mil.ru/Stati/item/483200/ }}</ref>
*[[7th Guards Mountain Air Assault Division|7th Guards Airborne Division]] – moved from [[Lithuania]] to [[Novorossiysk]].
*[[44th Training Airborne Division]] – moved from Lithuania to [[Omsk]].
*[[76th Guards Air Assault Division|76th Guards Airborne Division]] ([[Pskov Oblast]])
*[[98th Guards Airborne Division]] – moved from [[Ukraine]] to [[Ivanovo]]. Part of it stayed and became the nucleus of the [[1st Airmobile Division (Ukraine)|1st Airmobile Division]], [[Ukrainian Air Assault Forces|Ukrainian Airmobile Forces]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Kobasa |first=Askold I. |date=December 1995 |url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA305239.pdf |title=A Strategic-Military Analysis of the Ukrainian Armed Forces |publisher=[[Naval Postgraduate School]] |pages=54, 112 }}</ref>
*[[104th Guards Airborne Division]] – moved from [[Azerbaijan]] to [[Ulyanovsk]].
*[[106th Guards Airborne Division]] ([[Tula, Russia|Tula]] and [[Ryazan]])

The remaining division, the [[103rd Guards Airborne Division]], became part of the [[Belarusian Ground Forces]].{{sfn|Zaloga|1995|pages=294, 297–298}}

Russia also received seven<ref name="army-review" /> of the sixteen{{sfn|Elfving|2021|page=6}} Soviet airborne and air assault brigades, and some additional units, which included:<ref name="army-review" />
*[[11th Separate Guards Air Assault Brigade|11th Guards Air Assault Brigade]] ([[Ulan-Ude]])
*[[13th Separate Air Assault Brigade|13th Air Assault Brigade]] ([[Magdagachi]] and [[Zavitinsk]])
*[[21st Separate Air Assault Brigade|21st Air Assault Brigade]] ([[Stavropol]])
*[[36th Separate Air Assault Brigade|36th Air Assault Brigade]] (Garbolovo)
*[[37th Separate Airborne Brigade|37th Airborne Brigade]] ([[Chernyakhovsk]])
*[[56th Guards Air Assault Brigade]] ([[Kamyshin]])
*[[83rd Separate Guards Air Assault Brigade|83rd Guards Air Assault Brigade]] ([[Ussuriysk]])
*[[345th Independent Guards Airborne Regiment|345th Guards Airborne Regiment]] ([[Gudauta]], [[Abkhazia]])
*[[38th Guards Communications Brigade|196th Communications Regiment]] ([[Moscow Oblast]])

In the early 1990s the active Russian Airborne Forces had five divisions and eight brigades, and a total strength of 64,300 personnel. Each division had a strength of 6,000 men.<ref name="FAS1">{{Cite web |title=Airborne Assault Troops (VDV) |publisher=[[Federation of American Scientists]] |date=7 September 2000 |url=https://nuke.fas.org/guide/russia/agency/army-vdv.htm }}</ref> 
The two main training establishments of the VDV were in Ryazan and Omsk: the [[Ryazan Guards Higher Airborne Command School]]{{sfn|Thornton|2011|page=9}} and the [[242nd Training Centre|242nd Training Center]] of the Airborne Forces, which was formed in Omsk on the basis of the training division.<ref name="army-review" />