Admiral Alexander Moiseyev has been appointed the new acting commander-in-chief of the Russian Navy, according to the country's state news agency.
Stories surfaced last week suggesting that Moiseyev, who is 62, had replaced the previous naval commander, Nikolai Yevmonov. No reasons were given for the reshuffle.
The Russian Ministry of Defence was still listing Admiral Yevmonov as commander-in-chief of the Navy on its website on Tuesday.
However, Moisyev accompanied Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu to Sevastopol on the annexed Crimean peninsula on Sunday for an inspection of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. There, the minister instructed the officers to intensify their training in defence against Ukrainian sea and air drones.
Although Ukraine no longer has a functioning navy, it is said to have succeeded in damaging or sinking around 25 ships from the Black Sea Fleet in the two years since the start of the Russian invasion. That is just under a third of the fleet's strength. Missiles, drones and, most recently, remote-controlled explosive boats have been successfully used in attacks on Russian vessels.
Due to this threat, the Russian Black Sea Fleet is forced to largely restrict itself to the eastern part of its operational area, the British Ministry of Defence wrote in its daily intelligence assessment on Tuesday.
"With Ukraine continuing to seek out opportunities to strike at distance, the Russian Ministry of Defence has been prompted to increase its effort to preserve its fleet in the Black Sea," it said. There were unconfirmed reports in February that the fleet commander, Viktor Sokolov, had been replaced.
