From Sevastopol to Moscow
Admiral Alexander Vitko, commander of the Black Sea Fleet since April 2013, said goodbye to the officers and left for Moscow on the eve of Victory Day in May 2018. There were various rumors regarding his new possible position, including the possible post of Commander-in-Chief of the Navy. Vitko is popular among the navy and the armed forces in general, and in the spring of 2014 he ensured the bloodless neutralization of Ukrainian forces in Crimea.
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Former commander of the Black Sea Fleet Admiral Alexander Vitko
Photo: RIA Novosti/Alexey Malgavko
In the last few years, the Black Sea Fleet, under his leadership, actively participated in the Syrian operation - ensuring the operation of the Syrian Express, the combat service of ships - both their own and those coming from other fleets, and participation in hostilities.
New commander of the Black Sea Fleet appointed
Official information about the appointment has not yet been received, but, according to information available to the iz.ru portal, Alexander Vitko will become deputy commander-in-chief of the Navy, replacing Alexander Fedotenkov in this position, who was also previously replaced as commander of the Black Sea Fleet.
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Lexington Institute analyst Sarah White, in an article for 19Fortyfive, called on Poland and Lithuania to take measures as soon as possible to neutralize the military advantages of the Kaliningrad region and “neutralize” the Kaliningrad factor in the event of an armed conflict with Russia.
As the observer noted, the Russian semi-exclave, bordering Poland and Lithuania, could cause NATO “a lot of headaches.” She recalled that the region is well armed: it has high-precision Iskander-M complexes, fighters with cruise missiles, and also serves as a home base for the impressive Russian Navy, RIA Novosti reports.
According to the author of the material, in order to neutralize the military advantages of the Kaliningrad region, Warsaw and Vilnius must take measures as soon as possible. White is convinced that the purchase of American Patriot anti-aircraft systems (SAMs), fifth-generation F-35 Lightning II aircraft and M1 Abrams tanks would be an “effective” response to Russia’s defense system in the region. Although Lithuania cannot afford such expensive weapons, it still needs to install at least missile defense systems, the columnist believes.
Earlier in January, the United States administration admitted the possibility of reducing the number of American troops in Eastern Europe, subject to similar steps by Russia and if Moscow fulfills certain conditions, including advance notification of the movement of forces and Russian Iskander missiles in the Kaliningrad region.
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The Kremlin emphasized that Russia will not discuss with anyone the possibility of withdrawing weapons from the Kaliningrad region, since the region is Russian territory.
Let us recall that in July 2022, the United States allowed a “siege and physical occupation” of Kaliningrad. In addition, in May it became known about a secret US attack plan on Kaliningrad. In addition, in October 2022, Richard Hooker, a senior researcher at the Jamestown Foundation (USA), suggested in his report that NATO consider the prospect of seizing the Kaliningrad region in the event of an armed clash with Russia in the Baltic states. Governor of the Kaliningrad region Anton Alikhanov called the “plan to seize the Kaliningrad region” by NATO countries “American stupidity” and drew attention to the fact that publications in foreign media about a possible conflict in the Baltic states and the “capture” of the Kaliningrad region by NATO countries are beneficial to the NATO military-industrial complex. The editor-in-chief of the Arsenal of the Fatherland magazine, Viktor Murakhovsky, called the scenario of the “capture” of Kaliningrad idiocy. The Federation Council recommended that “lovers of crazy scenarios” calm down.
In September 2022, the commander of US Air Forces in Europe, Jeffrey Lee Harrigan, said that the Pentagon has a plan to break through Kaliningrad's air defenses. The Russian Foreign Ministry regarded Harrigan's statement as a threat. The Kremlin and the Ministry of Defense assured of the reliable protection of the Kaliningrad region from the aggressive plans of American generals. The newspaper VZGLYAD examined why NATO is threatening to attack Kaliningrad.
Senator Alexei Pushkov explained the Western hysteria around Kaliningrad by saying that “the United States and NATO need to constantly keep this topic in order to justify the saturation of the Baltic states, Poland and the Baltic Sea with their armed forces; pull Finland into NATO military maneuvers, and also push Sweden, where there are significant pro-Atlantic forces, to join the alliance despite its neutral status.”
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From Severomorsk to Sevastopol via Moscow
On the appointment of acting Black Sea Fleet Committee Alexander Moiseev was reported by the press in mid-May 2022. It is interesting that the new commander’s career was not previously connected with the Black Sea. A graduate of Popovka (Higher Naval School of Radio Electronics named after A.S. Popov), Moiseev went through a career on submarines - from an engineer of a radio-technical combat unit to the commander of a strategic missile carrier, and then the commander of the submarine forces of the Northern Fleet.
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Submarine K-407 "Novomoskovsk"
Photo: TASS/Lev Fedoseev
Among his professional achievements, one can note the successful launch of the TubSat 1 and TubSat 2 microsatellites into orbit with the launch of the Shtil launch vehicle (a converted version of the R-29RM rocket) from the K-407 Novomoskovsk missile carrier from an underwater position. This launch took place in July 1998. In April 2016, Moiseev became chief of staff of the Northern Fleet, and in November 2017 - deputy chief of the General Staff, from where he was already assigned to the Black Sea.
Russian Baltic Fleet: composition, weapons
After the collapse of the USSR, the Baltic Fleet found itself in a very difficult situation: a significant part of its bases remained on the territory of foreign states. Currently, the Baltic Fleet is based in the Leningrad and Kaliningrad regions. Due to its geographical location, the strategic importance of the Baltic Fleet is also limited.
The Baltic Fleet includes the following ships:
- Project 956 destroyer "Sarych" "Nastoychivy", which is the flagship of the Baltic Fleet;
- two patrol ships of the far sea zone of the Yastreb project. In Russian literature they are often called frigates;
- four patrol ships of the near sea zone of the Steregushchy project, which in the literature are sometimes called corvettes;
- ten small missile ships (project 1234.1);
- four large landing ships of Project 775;
- a large number of landing and missile boats.
The Baltic Fleet is armed with two Project 877 Halibut diesel submarines.
From the Navy to a new job
The previous commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Alexander Fedotenkov, was often named in naval circles as a candidate for the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, but this appointment never took place. According to available information, Fedotenkov is leaving not only the post of deputy commander-in-chief of the Navy, but also leaving the Ministry of Defense in general, with the transition to a civilian position.
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Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy, Vice Admiral Alexander Fedotenkov
Photo: TASS/Yuri Smityuk
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This transition should take place after Navy Day, which is traditionally celebrated on the last Sunday of July.
Russian Black Sea Fleet: composition, weapons
One of the oldest fleets in Russia with a long and glorious history. However, due to geographical reasons, its strategic role is not so great. This fleet participated in the international campaign against piracy in the Gulf of Aden, in the war with Georgia in 2008. Currently, its ships and personnel are involved in the Syrian campaign.
Construction of new surface and underwater vessels for the Black Sea Fleet is underway. This operational-strategic formation of the Russian Navy includes:
- Project 1164 Atlant missile cruiser Moskva, which is the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet;
- one Project 1134-B BOD "Berkut-B" "Kerch";
- five patrol ships of the far sea zone of different projects;
- eight large landing ships of projects 1171 “Tapir” and 775. They are united in the 197th landing ship brigade;
- five diesel submarines (projects 877 Halibut and 636.3 Varshavyanka);
- three small anti-submarine ships of Project 1124M "Albatross-M";
- minesweepers;
- anti-sabotage boats, missile boats, landing and small missile boats;
- patrol ships.
The Black Sea Fleet also includes naval aviation, coastal troops and marine units.
Goals and objectives of the Navy
The Navy is primarily a military branch that has the authority to use weapons when necessary.
The main goals currently assigned to the Navy are:
- Ensuring the security of the country's sovereignty in the waters, that is, readiness to repel an armed attack.
- Providing artillery fire support for ground forces. Modern Russian ships are equipped with guns that are as powerful as field artillery.
- Creating safe passage for merchant ships and their activities. Today, maritime attacks on ships are common. In order to ensure that if there is a threat of a ship being captured by sea robbers, there is an opportunity to free them, and there are separate units of the Navy.
- Deterring other states from thinking about attacking Russia. As long as the Russian Federation has the most modern armed ships, significantly superior in firepower to similar ships of other states, no country will decide to attack a stronger enemy. In addition, Russian warships are located in all maritime spaces belonging to Russian sovereignty. This allows you to control all ship maneuvers of other countries. The Russian Federation borders on the sea with the territories of many other countries - the USA, Japan, Poland, Lithuania, Finland, etc. If there is a threat of an attack from one of them, Russia can strike ahead of the curve.
- Participation in international exercises allows the Russian Federation to demonstrate its power on the world stage.
