The 85th Division was part of the Russian Ground Forces until it was reorganised as the 32nd Separate Motor Rifle Brigade in 2009.
Assigned to 4th Rifle Corps, 3rd Army, Soviet Western Front on outbreak of war, under the command of Major General Aleksandr Bondovsky.
Units of the division pursued the retreating troops towards Lubenki, Rumbenieki, and Ezeri and by 17:00 on 8 May reached the line of Myzi Gayta, Yurdi, and Kauši, where at 18:00 they accepted the German surrender.
From December 1994 to 27 April 1995 the division sent personnel to the First Chechen War: 82 officers, 43 corporals, and 373 soldiers and sergeants.
The division's troops cleared Chechen fighters from the administrative and residential buildings in Grozny, defended a strategically important bridge over the Sunzha on the outskirts of the village of Peter, and defended the approaches to the village of Ilinskoe from an invasion of Chechen rebels from Gudermes.
[4] Previous commanders included Major Generals Vasily Lunev, Anatoly Makushin, and Igor Puzanov (between 1983 and 1986).
Around 2007 to 2009 the composition of the division was reported as:[6] The division appears to have been reorganised as the 32nd Separate Motor Rifle Brigade, formed from the 228th Motor Rifle Regiment (possibly at Shilovo)[7] as part of the Russian Ground Forces' reorganisation in early 2009.