In 1944, the
Red Army's Chemical Troops had 19 brigades (14 technical and five chemical protection). After the end of
World War II, most of them were disbanded. General Major
Vladimir Pikalov (promoted to
Colonel General by 1975) commanded the Chemical Troops of the Ministry of Defence from March 1968 to December 1988. He was in charge of the specialised military units at the site of the
Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant disaster. Pikalov arrived at the scene on the afternoon of 26 April 1986, and assumed command of the specialised military units there. General Pikalov was later made a
Hero of the Soviet Union for his actions there. Among the 23 brigades of the Chemical Troops in the late 1980s were the
1st Brigade at Shikhany-2 (Vol'sk-18), two kilometres from
Shikhany, in the
Saratov Oblast of the
Volga Military District, 2nd Brigade at
Teikovo in the
Moscow Military District, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 8th, 11th, 12th,
16th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 25th, 26th,
27th,
28th, and the
29th located in
Severodonetsk in the
Kyiv Military District. In 1992, the Chemical Troops within the Russian Armed Forces were renamed the NBC Protection Troops. Shikhany-2, the military chemical base, and Shikhany-4, the arsenal, are located in Saratov Oblast. Shikhany-4 appears to be the location of the 115th Arsenal of the Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Troops. On 17 December 2024, the Commander of the RKhB Defence Troops, lieutenant general
Igor Kirillov, was killed in a bombing in
Moscow. == Structure and tasks ==