4th Guards Military Base

The 4th Guards Military Base () is a sizable overseas military base of the Russian Armed Forces stationed in the partially recognized Republic of South Ossetia. The base is subordinate to the command of the Southern Military District of the Russian Armed Forces. It was the first military of strategic importance in the Caucasus. The base is located in the city of Tskhinval and the neighboring village of Java.
History.
After the 1991–1992 South Ossetia War, a Joint Control Commission was created on the basis of the Dagomys agreement from representatives of four parties: Georgia, South Ossetia, Russia and North Ossetia. From 1993 to 2008, the Mixed Peacekeeping Forces (consisting of three battalions - Russian, Georgian and Ossetian) were deployed in South Ossetia. Before the war of 2008, Georgian peacekeepers who were part of the Joint Staff of the JPKF left its command. After the Russo-Georgian War, the Joint Peacekeeping Force ceased to exist. After the recognition of the Republic of South Ossetia by Russia, it was decided that a permanent Russian military base was needed.
The base was formed on 1 February 2009 on the basis of the 693rd Guards and 135th Motor Rifle Regiments of the 19th Motor Rifle Division based in Vladikavkaz. On 7 April 2010, Russian Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov and South Ossetian Defence Minister Yuri Tanayev signed an agreement on a unified Russian military base on the territory of South Ossetia. In accordance with the Russian-South Ossetian agreement, the united military base included former peacekeeping facilities in Tskhinval, a training ground in Dzartsem, and a military camp 4 kilometer north of Tskhinval. The Russian Airborne Troops also established an active military base outside of Java. The period of operation of the base is 49 years, with the possibility of automatic renewal for subsequent 15-year periods. On 16 December 2011, the 4th Guards Military Base was awarded the Order of St. George by President Medvedev. In 2012, it was planned to form the so-called "Ossetian Battalion" recruited from among the Armed Forces of South Ossetia as part of the base.