The exercise in driving equipment afloat, including the modern BMD-4M and BTR-MDM "Shell", was performed by the soldiers of the Pskov Guards Airborne Assault Formation. The training of the crews took place at a specially equipped hydrodrome.
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BTR-D armed with a ZU-23-2 twin-gun (Picture source: Facebook page of Russian MoD)
In addition, the evacuation teams worked out the towing of a combat vehicle, conditionally out of order, through the water. Unit commanders and their deputies, driver mechanics, gunners, operators and commanders of combat vehicles were involved as trainees.
BTR-D command post (Picture source: Facebook page of Russian MoD)
BMD-4M and BTR-MDM (Picture source: Facebook page of Russian MoD)
BTR-MDM and BMD-4M airborne infantry fighting vehicle (Picture source: Facebook page of Russian MoD)
The 76th Guards Air Assault Division is a division of the Russian Airborne Troops based in Pskov. The division traces its lineage back to the 76th Guards Rifle Division, formed in March 1943 from the 157th Rifle Division for that division's actions during the Battle of Stalingrad. The division fought in the Battle of Kursk, the Battle of the Dnieper, Operation Bagration, the East Pomeranian Offensive, and the Berlin Offensive. Postwar, it was converted into an airborne division.
The division moved to Pskov, its current base, in 1949. The division was involved in Black January and the January Events in Lithuania. After the Dissolution of the Soviet Union, the division became part of the Russian Airborne Troops. The division fought in the First Chechen War, Second Chechen War and the Russo-Georgian War. The division became an air assault division in 2006. In 2008 the 76th Air Assault Division was involved in the 2008 South Ossetia war, being deployed to South Ossetia and fought in the Battle of Tskhinvali. In 2014 division units spearheaded the 2014 Russian military intervention in Ukraine, and were used in the annexation of Crimea.
