During the Second World War, the formation began its existence as the 98th Guards Rifle Division (ru:98-я гвардейская стрелковая дивизия).

On 6 January 1959, the 243rd Separate Military-Transport Aviation Squadron was activated with the division, equipped with 10 Antonov An-2 transports.

[5] On 22 February 1968, for achievements in combat and political training, and in connection with the 50th anniversary of the USSR Armed Forces, the Division was awarded the Order of Kutuzov, 2nd degree.

In summer 1991, the division received instructions from the Government of Ukraine to swear allegiance to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

The rest of the formation moved to Ivanovo in the spring of 1993 and by April the division was transferred to the Russian military.

On 26 August 2015, 18-year-old Pavel Bakhtin — about three months short of being demobilised — was a sentry for the 331st Guards Airborne Regiment at a field camp near Pesochnoye on the border between Yaroslavl and Kostroma Oblasts.

[14] Russia has been accused of, and has denied, supporting the pro-Russian separatists who battled the Ukrainian army in the war in Donbass.

[15][16][17][18] A battalion tactical group of the division's 331st Guards Regiment allegedly participated in the August fighting.

[19] In January 2022, elements of the division's 217th Airborne Regiment were reportedly deployed to Belarus in the context of the Ukraine crisis.

[3] On August 1, 2023, officials from the Yaroslavl Oblast announced the re-formation of the retired 299th Guards Parachute Regiment, which was later confirmed by Sergei Shoigu on September 26.