Reconnaissance troops training in Mulino

Mulino is the largest military center of the Nizhny Novgorod Region, a settlement in the Volodarsky District. It is the administrative center of the Mulino rural municipal formation (selsoviet). It became widely known because the largest ground-forces training range in Russia (the Gorokhovets range) is located nearby, with dozens of military units stationed around it.

It is located ten kilometers north of the M-7 "Volga" federal highway, between Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod, 372 kilometers from the Moscow Ring Road (MKAD).

Coordinates: 56°18` N and 42°56` E Postal code: 606083. Telephone code: 8(83136) OKATO code (All-Russian Classifier of Administrative-Territorial Divisions): 2231811000

Overview

A distinctive feature compared to other military settlements is that Mulino is "historically" divided into two parts — the "Old Town" and the "New Town." The "New Town" was built by Finnish contractors in 1992 for the army units withdrawn from the territory of the former GDR.

In addition to a modern residential area, shops, consumer-service businesses, and two kindergartens, the "New Town" also has a modern school with greenhouses, computer classrooms, two swimming pools, and gyms. This school (No. 58) is attended mainly by the children of officers and warrant officers currently serving in the Russian army. According to the school's sociological family profile, School No. 58 has 739 pupils from 698 families.

The "Old Town" stands in sharp contrast to the "New Town" — and not only in appearance. The "Old Town" was built in the 1940s-50s. Today it is inhabited mainly by the children and grandchildren of former servicemen. Finding civilian work in a military settlement is extremely difficult. The largest military training range in Europe is located near Mulino, where artillery and tank exercises and live-fire drills are held regularly.

Around Mulino there is a pine forest, with plenty of berries and mushrooms — as well as ticks and mosquitoes :)

History of Mulino

You can get to us from any district of Moscow by metro. Yes, really — by metro… Get on at any station, ride to Kursky Station (or Yaroslavsky Station), buy a ticket for any train heading toward Nizhny Novgorod, and welcome to a land where there is no earth, only sand; where there are no trees, only pines. A land where there are no people, only soldiers.

The settlement owes its existence to the military, who chose this area as a training range for the Red Army in the 1930s. During the Great Patriotic War, dozens upon dozens of units and formations were formed at the Gorokhovets Camps and sent to the front.

The settlement took its name from a nearby village that can already be found on eighteenth-century maps. The range is called the Gorokhovets Camps after the ancient town of Gorokhovets, located some twenty kilometers away.

After the war, an artillery division was stationed in Mulino. The soldiers were housed in tents, while wooden frame-and-fill houses were built for the commanders. Near the site of today's hospital, a wooden elementary school was built for the children of the command staff.

In the 1950s the settlement began building permanent structures. In 1954 a brick secondary-school building was constructed, and in 1956 the first three-story brick apartment building for commanders' families was completed. In 1957 another three-story building was constructed (today buildings 3 and 2 on Novaya Street). The following year a four-story building was completed (Building No. 1). For a long time the area around these buildings was the center of the settlement, surrounded by wooden houses.

In the 1960s the settlement grew and developed. During this period four apartment buildings were completed (Building No. 4 in 1960, No. 5 in 1962, No. 6 in 1964, and the first five-story panel building, No. 7, in 1969). In 1965 the Garrison Officers' House, previously housed in a wooden club on the site of today's Building No. 10, moved into a new brick building constructed specially for it. That same year the military hospital was relocated from Zolino to Mulino, where it remains to this day.

In 1975 a training artillery division was formed in Mulino on the basis of the cadre artillery division, comprising three training regiments:

  • - the training artillery regiment (today the 681st RTC)
  • - the training anti-tank regiment (disbanded; the 6th Tank Brigade is now in its place)
  • - the training reconnaissance-artillery regiment (the settlement of Inzhenerny).

The division trained artillery sergeants for the entire Armed Forces of the USSR, sending about 8,000 junior specialists to the troops every year.

Construction of apartment buildings on Novaya Street continued into the 1970s. Building No. 8 was completed in 1973, and two buildings, No. 9 and No. 10, in 1975. In the 1980s and early 1990s, eleven more apartment buildings were built on Novaya Street: Nos. 11 and 12 in 1982, No. 13 in 1983, No. 14 in 1984, No. 15 in 1985, Nos. 16 and 17 in 1987, Nos. 18 and 19 in 1990, No. 20 in 1991, and No. 21 in 1992.

During this same period a fine two-story military department store, a five-story hotel-dormitory, and the "Lesnaya Yagodka" ("Forest Berry") cafe-canteen were built. What has become of them today can be seen here.

1993 was a landmark year in the life of the settlement. Two Guards divisions were withdrawn to us from a unified Germany: the 34th Artillery and the 47th Tank. To house the families of the servicemen of the withdrawn units, construction of apartment buildings began southeast of the settlement. In under two years, Finnish construction companies (first HAKA, then YIT) built and put into operation a new town of 16 five-story buildings with 1,008 apartments, a modern 33-classroom school with swimming pools and gyms, two kindergartens, a clinic, a shopping center, a consumer-services complex, a three-building hotel complex, a bank, a communications center, and all the necessary infrastructure. (Today this is Gvardeyskaya Street, or simply the "New Town".)

In 2009 the first nine-story apartment building and two hotel-dormitory buildings were constructed.

At the end of 2010 the 20th Combined Arms Army was transferred to Mulino from Voronezh. To house its servicemen and their family members, construction of a base military settlement for 25,000 people was about to begin near our settlement.

Military Unit 54096 (6th Tank)

The 6th Częstochowa Red Banner separate tank brigade, Order of Mikhail Kutuzov 2nd Class

The brigade is part of the 20th Guards Combined Arms Army of the Western Military District. It is stationed in the settlement of Mulino, Nizhny Novgorod Region.

  • Postal address: 606083, Nizhny Novgorod Region, Volodarsky District, settlement of Mulino, Military Unit 54096.

Military Unit 43533 (681st RTC, training center)

The 681st Regional Training Center for the Combat Employment of Missile Troops and Artillery

In June 1975 the 922nd Training Artillery Regiment was formed in Mulino on the basis of the 41st Training Artillery Brigade; it existed until 1993. In 1993 the regiment was reorganized into the 335th Training Artillery Brigade.

By a directive of the Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces — Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation — dated 13 November 2001, the training artillery brigade was reorganized into the 681st Regional Training Center for the Combat Employment of Missile Troops and Artillery.

From 1 July 2002 the center began training cadets in the following specialties: commander of towed, self-propelled, and rocket artillery guns; mortar commander; commander of a command-vehicle section; driver-mechanic.

Today the 681st RTC has three training battalions (1, 2, and 3). Each battalion has three training batteries (Battalion 1 — batteries 1, 2, and 3; Battalion 2 — 4, 5, and 6; Battalion 3 — 7, 8, and 9). Each battery consists of training platoons.

Each year the training center holds two graduation cycles for junior commanders and specialists for the artillery units of the Ground Forces of the Russian Armed Forces. Upon completing their training, graduates of the 681st RTC are sent to continue their service in military units throughout Russia.

  • Postal address: 606083, Nizhny Novgorod Region, Volodarsky District, settlement of Mulino, Military Unit 06709

Military Unit 30683 (288th Artillery Brigade)

The 288th Warsaw-Brandenburg Red Banner Artillery Brigade, Orders of Kutuzov, Bogdan Khmelnitsky, and the Red Star

The 288th Warsaw-Brandenburg Red Banner Artillery Brigade, Orders of Kutuzov, Bogdan Khmelnitsky, and the Red Star, was formed on 11 December 1942.

The brigade is a permanent-readiness formation, stationed in the settlement of Mulino, Nizhny Novgorod Region, and is part of the 20th Guards Combined Arms Army of the Western Military District.

At the end of the 2010 training year, the brigade was recognized as the best artillery formation in the Western Military District.

  • Postal address: 606083, Nizhny Novgorod Region, Volodarsky District, settlement of Mulino, Military Unit 30683

Military Unit 31895 (9th Command Brigade)

no data available

Military Unit 12801 (Penal Battalion)

no data available

From Nizhny Novgorod

The best way to get there is by marshrutka (minibus). Every half hour a minibus on route 1301 departs from the Kanavinsky bus station to Mulino. The bus station is located next to the railway — Moscow Railway Station (Nizhny Novgorod). There is no need to buy tickets at the bus-station counter; the fare can be paid to the driver.

Travel time is about 1 hour 15 minutes. The fare is 155 rubles 50 kopecks (August 2012).

Alternatively, take a commuter train to Ilyino station, then a marshrutka (routes 107 and 117) on to Mulino.

Interesting facts about Mulino

  • Dozens of military units are stationed around the settlement; some of them are rapid-reaction units with combat experience.
  • Mulino is home to the largest penal battalion in Russia: the 28th Separate Disciplinary Battalion (established on 28 June 1986). It is Military Unit No. 12801.
  • The films "Admiral" (about Kolchak) and "Burnt by the Sun 2" were filmed not far from Mulino.
  • In recent years several new five-story apartment buildings have been built in Mulino, and construction of a nine-story apartment building has been completed. It is the first building of that height in the entire Volodarsky District.
  • There is a restaurant in Moscow called "Mulino," but it has no connection to this settlement.
  • Besides the Nizhny Novgorod Region, settlements with this name also exist in the Vologda, Kirov, and Kostroma Regions, as well as in Zabaykalsky Krai, Italy, and the United States (in the state of Oregon) (archived) .
  • Mikhail Prokhorov served in Mulino.
  • Mulino has an unofficial "sister town" with a similarly sounding name — Mamulino.

Internet resources

  • VKontakte group "Mulino forever". "A group for those who were born, grew up, studied, lived, served, and worked in this wonderful urban-type settlement! And simply for those who love Mulino dearly."

See also

  • Novosmolino