Post-Cold War Service
The Army was withdrawn to Samara in the Volga Military District in 1993, and converted from a tank formation to a combined-arms army that same year, referred to as 2nd Guards Red Banner Army. It holds the Fighting Banner of the 2nd Guards Tank Army in storage. It was allocated the 16th and 90th Guards Tank Divisions for some years before being disbanded in 1998. 16th Guards Tank Division was reduced to a weapons and equipment storage base in March 1997. (Duncan, JIR?)
The Army was reformed in 2001 from the former Volga MD headquarters and now consists of the 27th Guards Motor Rifle Division and the 201st Motor Rifle Division.
In 2006 the Army conducted a large Command-Staff exercise "Southern Shield - 2006" that included a call up of some 4-5,000 reservists. The exercise proved successful and confirmed the Army's readiness status., including that of two component divisions which conducted a tactical exercise within the scope of the "Southern Shield - 2006". The tactical exercise was again conducted in 2007 by the 27th Motor Rifle Division. This division, and several other Army sub-units are today entirely staffed by service personnel serving under professional contracts.
A former commander of the 2nd Guards Tank Army, Army General Nikolai Makarov, became Chief of Material of the Armed Forces, Deputy Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation, and is now Chief of General Staff.
As of February 2008, the Army's commander was General-Major Oleg Leont'evich Makarevich (former Chief of Staff, 22nd Army, Moscow Military District).
Read more about this topic: 2nd Guards Tank Army
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