Kremlin: Questions about Russian navy operations are for defence ministry

The Kremlin on Thursday said questions about Russian naval operations should be directed to the defence ministry after the Wall Street Journal reported that Russia had withdrawn the bulk of its Black Sea Fleet from its main base in annexed Crimea.

The WSJ said the move had been a response to Ukrainian attacks. Russia seized and unilaterally annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. Kyiv has vowed to restore its control over the peninsula and the other territories that Russia has captured.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on the story, or on reports that Russia had signed a deal for a permanent naval base on the Black Sea coast of the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia.