The 33rd MRD has a most unusual lineage which begun with the order by the Special Red Banner Far Eastern Army (OKDVA) No.

30/010 dated 18 March 1932 to the 4th Directorate of Works to construct the Blagoveshchensk Fortified Region (Russian: укрепрайон) UR, with the goal of protecting the left bank of the Amur river.

The newly constituted Fortified Region was numbered 101st UR and included the following units: By the order of the Peoples' Commissar of the Military District No.0030 of 5 July 1939, the Fortified District became a part of the newly created Front Group and was subordinated to the 2nd Independent Red-Banner Far Eastern Army.

In the middle of May 1945 the 342nd Rifle Division was brought out into the dunes along the Amur where it began to create the second defence entrenchment line.

The division built defensive installations for two more months, then force marched 60 kilometers, and began work on new entrenchments.

At the start of military operations against Japan, the 87th Rifle Corps was in the reserve of the 1st Far-Eastern Front and was located in the region of the town of Lesozavodsk.

By 30 December 1945 all rifle divisions of the military district were reorganized with the new organization (with the divisional artillery brigades) and were authorized an establishment of 8132 personnel each.

In October 1953, by the order of the Minister of Defense of the USSR dated 23 April 1953, the staff of the Far East Military District, the former 2nd Far-Eastern Front, was reformed into the administration of the 15th Army, with its headquarters at Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.

The unit has been involved in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, having its scheduled delpoyment to Syria cancelled to make up for manpower shortfalls.