Due to miscalculations in planning by the Ministry of Defense of the Soviet Union, there was a shortage of engineering units serving in Afghanistan during the Soviet–Afghan War.

After the collapse of the USSR in late 1991, the engineering troops were dissolved and its component units were absorbed by Russia and the newly formed armed forces of nations such as Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Armenia.

By order of the Minister of Defense on 23 September 1996, it was prescribed to celebrate the Day of Engineering Troops on January 21 annually.

In peacetime, the Engineer Troops have a number of important and socially significant tasks: they clean areas of explosive hazards, are involved in the response and liquidation of aftermath of man-made accidents and catastrophes, natural disasters, prevent destruction of bridges and waterworks during floating of ice, etc.

Further development of the Engineer Troops is carried out through equipping them with qualitatively new, highly effective, versatile means of engineer equipment, built on the basis of standardised elements, blocks and modules, with a simultaneous decrease of the nomenclature samples of the same type for the intended purpose.