83rd and 97th Motorized Rifle Brigades

The predecessor unit is the 83rd Motorized Rifle Brigade and the 97th Motorized Rifle Brigade, both of which served during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War. The 97th brigade, which was founded on 12 January 1993,^[2] was tasked with the protection of the south-eastern borders of Armenia. Under the leadership of its founding commander, Lieutenant General Mikhail Grigoryan, it was responsible for the seizure of Fizuli.^[3] It also inflicted heavy losses on the Azerbaijani Army, taking the territories of historical Syunik, three regions and sixty villages.^[4]

In 2016, Sergey Minasyan, an expert at the Caucasus Institute, criticized a publication by a Russian military expert.^[5] The erroneous publication had said that the 83rd Motorized Rifle Brigade was stationed in Dashkasan,^[6][7] but Dashkaran is located neither in Armenia nor in the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic but rather in Azerbaijan.

Post-war and 21st century

During the reign of its commander Manvel Grigoryan (who was appointed to this position in 1993),^[8] structural changes were made, as a result of which the 97th and 83rd brigades were united, becoming the 14th Independent Motorized Rifle Brigade.^[9] In 2001, the 14th Brigade was reorganized into the 14th Independent Motorized Rifle Regiment, which, after handing over the combat duty to the Artsakh Defence Army, was moved to a permanent location. The following commanders served as heads of the unit:^[4]

• Colonel Arthur Aghabekyan
• Colonel Arthur Grigoryan
• Colonel Davit Aghajanyan
• Colonel Arayik Vardanyan
• Colonel Gagik Avsharyan
• Colonel Samvel Hakobyan
• Lieutenant Colonel Samvel Poghosyan
• Colonel Karen Serobyan

On Army Day 2007, on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the military, the regiment was awarded the Order of Combat Cross of the First Degree.