Russian President Vladimir Putin appointed Admiral Oleksandr Moiseev as acting commander of the Russian Navy on Tuesday, RIA and TASS news agencies reported, officially confirming that the Kremlin fired the previous head of the position.

Admiral Oleksandr Moiseev (left)Photo: TASS / ddp USA / Profimedia Images

A submarine commander by training, Moiseev was appointed by Putin as commander-in-chief of Russia’s navy more than a decade after former President Dmitry Medvedev awarded him the title of Hero of the Russian Federation.

Previously, the admiral was the commander of the Black Sea Fleet (2018-2019) and the Northern Fleet (2019-2024). During his tenure as commander of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, he oversaw efforts to expand and modernize it, which began years before his appointment.

Some of the Russian mass media, in particular the pro-Kremlin newspapers Izvestia and The Moscow Times, wrote as early as March 10 that the commander of the Russian Navy, Admiral Mykola Yevmenov, had been dismissed from his post and replaced by the commander of the Northern Fleet, Admiral Moiseev.

Kremlin spokesman Dmytro Peskov declined to comment on media reports that Admiral Yevmenov was fired after Moscow lost several warships to Ukrainian attacks on the Black Sea Fleet.

“There are secret decrees, I cannot comment on them. There were no public decrees on this matter,” Dmytro Peskov said after Kremlin-accredited journalists asked him about the issue following the media leak.

Yevmenov, 61, was appointed head of the Russian Navy in May 2019.

The news is updated.