The Baltic Military District was disbanded after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 and reorganised into the North Western Group of Forces, which ceased to exist following the withdrawal of all Russian troops from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania on 1 September 1994.

The Baltic Military District was first created by order of the USSR People's Commissar of Defence on 11 July 1940, under the command of Colonel General Aleksandr Loktionov.

It controlled troops on the territory of the Latvian and Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republics as well as the western part of Kalinin Oblast.

On 17 August 1940 it became the Baltic Special Military District, changing its boundaries to control troops on the territory of Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republics.

[1] The district was created in order to strengthen the defense of the northwestern borders of the Soviet Union and to protect the approaches to Moscow and Leningrad from German-controlled East Prussia.

[2] In 1940 and 1941 the district formed new units, including two mechanized corps (the 3rd and 12th), as well as local and republic military commissariats.

At the same time, the district headquarters developed a plan for responding to a German invasion, and ordered that troops be brought to combat readiness on 18 June.

However, by 22 June, when Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, began, the district's newly formed units were not completely manned.

According to the district's plan, the 8th, 11th, and 27th Armies were to cooperate with the Baltic Fleet in defending the coast from Haapsalu to Palanga, focusing on the defense of the 300-kilometer border with East Prussia.

On 1 January 1991 the 15th Air Army consisted of the:[14] During September 1991 the District was reorganised into the North Western Group of Forces (ru:Северо-Западная группа войск).

Russia officially ended its military presence in the Baltics after it turned off the Skrunda-1 radar station in Latvia on 31 August 1998.