War in Ukraine: Russian Navy chief allegedly fired

If the direction of Russian operations in Ukraine has changed several times since the start of the war, key senior military officials have so far been unconcerned – or barely – despite the setbacks. Thus, despite the rebellion of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the “boss” of the Wagner paramilitary group, who demanded his head, the Minister of Defense, Sergei Shoigu, and the Chief of Staff of the Russian Forces, Valery Gurasimov, were retained in their functions. by the Kremlin.

Among the chiefs of staff of other branches of the Russian Armed Forces, only General Sergei Surovykin was forced to leave as head of the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS). It is also not certain that this decision was connected to the war in Ukraine… although it coincided with the disappearance of Yevgeny Prigozhin and Dmitri Outkin, number twos of the Wagner Group.

However, another senior army officer has just been dismissed from his post. Indeed, the Russian press has reported that Admiral Nikolai Avmenov, who was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy in 2019, will be replaced by Admiral Alexander Moiseyev. This information has not been denied by the Kremlin. “There is a decree classified as secret. I cannot comment on them. There is no public decree on this topic,” his spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, replied when asked about this possible reshuffle.

Since the annexation of Crimea they no longer have so-called first-rate warships, Ukrainian forces have achieved significant damage to the Russian Black Sea fleet, the most emblematic of which was the cruiser Moskva, which it owned at the time. “Flagship”.

Subsequently, SCALP/Storm Shadow air-to-ground cruise missiles and Magura V5 Naval Surface Drones (USVs) seriously damaged several other Russian ships (including the Rostov-on-Don submarine) … when they did not engage Moscow. At the bottom of the Black Sea, the newest patrol boat is “Sergei Kotov”.

In February, Russian sources reported that the commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Admiral Viktor Sokolov, had been officially relieved of his duties and replaced by Admiral Sergei Pinchuk. And this a few days after the loss of the corvette Ivanovets and the landing ship Caesar Kaunikov.

In any case, a trained submariner, Admiral Avmenov will go down in naval history as having lost ships to the opposing force due to lack of naval power. One may recall the story of Archimedes’ “advent mirrors” during the siege of Syracuse during the Second Punic War…

Will Admiral Moiseyev do better? Like his predecessors, he began his career as a submariner. However, he knows the Black Sea Fleet well after commanding it between 2018 and 2019.