Putin signed a decree on 26 Feb 2024 reestablishing Moscow and Leningrad military districts, effective 1 March, absorbing the Northern Fleet into Leningrad district. This responds to NATO expansion, with troop regrouping in NW Russia and also adds occupied Ukrainian regions to Southern Military District.

Vladimir Putin signed a decree on 26 February 2024 to reestablish the Soviet-era Moscow and Leningrad military districts, dissolving the Northern Fleet as an independent military district effective 1 March 2024. The Northern Fleet Joint Strategic Command, granted military district status in January 2021, is now absorbed into the new Leningrad Military District, which encompasses numerous regions in northwest Russia including Karelia, Komi, Murmansk, Arkhangelsk, Vologda, Kaliningrad, Leningrad, Novgorod, Pskov, Nenets Autonomous Okrug, and St. Petersburg. The previous Western Military District is split into two. The decree also integrates occupied Ukrainian territories of Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhya, and Kherson into the Southern Military District. Analysts interpret the restructuring as a strategic response to NATO's presence near Russian borders, aimed at improving Russia’s military posture in the northwest and possibly underscoring heightened readiness for military operations in the Baltic and Arctic regions. The decree was signed and made public through Russia's official legal information portal on 26 February 2024.