Russian Navy Leadership Shakeup: Adm. Evmenov Replaced Amid Setbacks

Adm. Nikolai Evmenov, the chief commander of the Russian navy, has been relieved of his duties. He will be succeeded by Adm. Alexander Moiseyev, the commander of the Northern Fleet, as decided by the Kremlin.

According to TASS, the Kremlin's news agency, on Tuesday, Admiral Alexander Moiseyev was appointed as the "acting commander-in-chief of the Naval Forces of the Russian Federation", taking over from Adm. Nikolai Evmenov.

This appointment confirms previous insights from British intelligence. An advisor to the Ukrainian Minister of Internal Affairs, Anton Gerashchenko, wrote on X, "The previous commander was dismissed following the Russian Black Sea Fleet's loss of nearly one-third of its combat capacity since the onset of the full-scale invasion into Ukraine. Notably, in the past month alone, Russia lost two ships."

Adm. Moiseyev's primary objective as the new commander will be to enhance the Black Sea Fleet's combat effectiveness. The fleet has experienced significant setbacks in the ongoing conflict with Ukraine, as analyzed by the British Ministry of Defence last Friday.

In its daily intelligence brief, the Ministry noted Evmenov's departure came after the dismissal of two Black Sea Fleet commanders since February 2022 and the March 5 sinking of the corvette Sergei Kotov, marking the ninth significant loss inflicted by Ukrainian forces since the war’s start.