Updated with official appointment as Commander-in-Chief.
Admiral Alexander Moiseyev has been appointed as the new acting chief of Russia’s navy, state-run media reported Tuesday.
The Kremlin previously declined to comment on reports from earlier month that Moiseyev allegedly replaced Admiral Nikolai Yevmenov amid the Russian navy’s mounting losses to Ukrainian attacks in the Black Sea.
Moiseyev commanded Russia’s Northern Fleet before the latest reshuffle.
Yevmenov’s removal nearly five years after his appointment is the biggest shakeup in Russia’s military top brass since the sacking of Aerospace Forces chief Sergei Surovikin last year.
Moiseyev’s appointment was revealed on Tuesday during celebrations for the Day of the Russian Submariner in the northwestern port city of Kronstadt, around 20 kilometers from St. Petersburg.
Ukrainian forces claim to have destroyed more than two dozen Russian warships, including a military patrol boat earlier this month, since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
The sinkings are an embarrassment for Russia, which has been forced to move boats from the Sevastopol naval base in annexed Crimea to the port of Novorossiysk, further to the east.
The Russian navy’s setbacks come in stark contrast to its land offensive in eastern Ukraine, where its forces have advanced in recent months after over a year of deadlocked fighting.
Moiseyev was officially appointed as the Commander-in-Chief of Russia’s navy on April 2 during a meeting with top military officials.
