In 1969 31st Guards Motor Rifle Division was relocated from Kaunas in the Lithuanian SSR (Baltic Military District) to Belogorsk, in the Amur area of the Far East Military District.
The town is home to important military elements of the Far Eastern Military District, specifically the headquarters of the 35th Army and the 21st Guards Motor Rifle Division.
During training exercises on March, 28 at a Far Eastern military base near the town of Belogorsk, major Solnechnikov pushed a soldier away from an unsuccessfully thrown grenade and threw himself over it after it bounced back into the trench they were in with dozens of soldiers standing nearby.