The Russian Navy Report

New President, New Commander

Putin with veterans during the Victory Day celebrations

This week Russia inaugurated a new president (kind of new). 

 However on President Medvedev’s last day in office he replaced the commanders of the Air Force and Navy. Prior to this Vladimir Vysotsky had been the commander of the Russian Navy for nearly five years. However his time in the post was seen as one laden with accidents, and the leadership felt that he had done little to improve the capabilities of the navy.

Vladimir Vysotsky

While he was commander in chief there was an accident on a submarine in the Pacific Fleet that killed 20 people, and more recently in December there was a fire while a nuclear submarine carrying nuclear weapons was in dry dock.

Igor Korotchenko, chairman of the Defense Ministry’s Public Council previously said that the reshuffle was a normal practice for military officials.

“Medevedev’s move will give the road to new, younger military specialists,” Korotchenko said.

While Vysotsky cannot be held personally responsible for these accidents, they happened under his leadership.  Sometimes it’s better to bring in a new person and see what they can do.

Viktor Chirkov

The new commander of the Russian Navy is Viktor Chirkov. He was commander of the Baltic Fleet prior to this assignment. We will cover his biography in our Monday morning update.