In December, the 52nd protected the Black Sea coast in the estuaries of the Dnieper and Bug. On 13 December it received the honorific Yekaterinburg. In early 1921, the division participated in the suppression of anarchist leader Nestor Makhno's Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine in the Nikolayev area. In accordance with orders of the Kharkov Military District of 23 April and 11 June and a 6th Army order of 29 April, the 52nd was reorganized as the 52nd Separate Rifle Brigade, directly subordinated to the district headquarters. It was soon renumbered as the 136th and by a district order of 12 October was used to form the 1st Brigade of the 25th Rifle Division.