Due to its location in KiakhtainBuryatia, this brigade has a high percentage of Buryat and other ethnic minority servicemen, many of whom adhere to Tibetan Buddhism. As a result, by 2021 it was the only Russian military unit with a Buddhist lama serving as a military chaplain.[1]
Elements of the brigade fought in the war in Donbas and were located in the Northern operational area in February 2015.[5] The 37th's troops fought in the Battle of Debaltseve during this time, where their heavy equipment and weaponry was crucial to the defeat of Ukrainian forces in the battle.[6] In September 2016, a conscript from the brigade was run over by a Kamaz truck while sleeping during an exercise.[7] A large number of incidents and deaths in the brigade were reported during the 2010s, including two court cases involving beatings by superiors, suicides, and accidental shootings.[8] Conscripts of the brigade repeatedly complained to the Commissioner for Human Rights of Buryatia regarding extortion by the unit before their demobilization, poor clothing, and inadequate medical care.[9]
The brigade was committed to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Elements of the brigade participated in the Kyiv offensive.[10] On 23 March, Ukrainian journalist Roman Tsimbalyuk posted a video showing brigade commander Colonel Yuri Medvedev being evacuated after having been run over by his own troops due to reportedly being dissatisfied with the about 50 percent casualties that the unit had suffered during their fight at the battle of Makariv. Colonel Medvedev later died in hospital. This was widely repeated by Western intelligence officials as a sign of widespread Russian demoralization during the war.[11][12] After the Russian retreat from Kyiv Oblast, the brigade was redeployed to eastern Ukraine.[13]
On 20 April, residents of Kyakhta, the city of the unit's garrison, purchased a quadrocopter UAV to be sent to the brigade in Ukraine using funds from a donation drive.[14]
On 31 March 2024, the Ukrainian 47th Separate Mechanized Brigade claimed to have repelled the 37th Guards Brigade near Avdiivka, forcing it to be withdrawn, and claimed to have "eliminated" 1,300 Russian soldiers and 30 units of equipment over the past month.[16]