Russia has withdrawn most of its Black Sea Fleet (BSF) ships and submarines from Sevastopol further east to Novorossiysk. After the removal of the BSF commander in March 2024, the fleet was the least active since the beginning of the war. This was reported by the UK Ministry of Defense, UNN reports .
Details
It is noted that on April 1, 2024, a frigate with guided missiles of the Grigorovich type carried out weapons handling activities at a base in the port of Novorossiysk. Modern Russian warships, such as the Grigorovich frigate, have vertical launch systems to fire cruise missiles at sea and land targets. Such missiles have historically been reloaded in Sevastopol.
According to British intelligence, Russia has largely withdrawn its Black Sea Fleet ships and submarines from Sevastopol further east to Novorossiysk. After the removal of the Black Sea Fleet Commander in March 2024, the fleet was the least active since the beginning of the war.
Since the fleet will remain close to Novorossiysk as the best way to avoid a Ukrainian attack from the sea, its maintenance, logistics, and weapons handling infrastructure in Novorossiysk has likely been upgraded to support the new basing conditions indefinitely,
Recall
According to media reports, Russia has changed the commander-in-chief of the navy: Admiral Nikolai Evmenov resigned, and the commander of the Northern Fleet, Alexander Moiseev, was appointed acting commander-in-chief. There was no official announcement about the change of the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy.