Russia’s Black Sea Fleet Commander Sacked by Putin Over Warship's Sinking? Here's What We Know

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has sacked the Black Sea Fleet’s first deputy commander, Viktor Sokolov over the sinking of the warship Tsezar Kunikov off the coast of 2014 annexed Crimea, the pro-Kremlin channels are reporting.

The commander of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet was fired after the Ukrainian naval drones sunk the landing ship for the Russian naval forces in south of the town of Yalta. Sokolov was appointed as the Black Sea Fleet commander after barrage of drone attacks by Ukraine in the Black Sea in mid 2022. He replaced his predecessor Igor Osipov.

Kyiv argues that attacks in the annexed peninsula are aimed at safeguarding its own shipping maritime lanes, and deter Russian naval assaults after the UN and Turkiye-brokered Black Sea Grain Initiative was torpedoed and Moscow refused to guarantee the safety of Ukrainian vessels in the contentious waters. 

Russia warned that ships travelling to Ukraine's Black Sea ports will be seen as possibly carrying military cargo and their flag states are the parties to the conflict.

Black Sea ‘unsafe for navigation’

In a statement posted on Telegram hours after the grain deal could not be revived, Russian Defense Ministry declared the areas of the southeastern and northwestern parts of the Black Sea’s international waters as “unsafe for navigation.” Russian military considers all the ships traversing via the Black Sea as “the potential carriers of military cargoes.” Moscow’s forces launched preemptive strikes on the ports of Odesa and Chornomorsk  to prevent the grain laden Ukrainian vessels from sailing in the Black Sea where Sevastopol, the major naval base of its Black Sea Fleet, is located.

As the hostilities in Black Sea escalated during the course of war, Moscow planned to relocate its Sevastopol base and redeployment of its Black Sea assets to the safer ports of Novorossiysk and Feodosia, located either side of the Kerch Strait.

The decision came as Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelesnkyy announced that Russian fleet “is no longer able to operate in the western part of the Black Sea and is gradually fleeing from Crimea. And this is a historic achievement.”

Ukrainian forces struck the Russian military infrastructure on the Sevastopil shipyard in September, last year. They launched drones at the Russian Black Sea fleet Headquarters in September.

In the footage released by the Ukrainian military, the Magura V5 sea drones were seen striking the Russian war vessel causing powerful explosion and sinking the ship with the crew onboard. The satellite images from last year show that the warship sailed with its Black Sea Fleet from the peninsula for the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk.

This is yet another major military loss for Russia’s Black Sea Fleet after the sinking of the flagship ‘Moskva’ in April last year. The Russian guided missile cruiser was carrying a crew of 510 when it was attacked with two Neptune missiles by the armed forces of Ukraine setting the vessel ablaze, eventually sinking it in the Black Sea, south of Odesa.

It was revealed that the war vessel was hit using Ukrainian Neptune anti-ship missiles only as the US intelligence played a role in making its location known to the Ukrainian forces. United States later refused that it had any knowledge that the forces of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy were planning an attack on the warship. White House officials claimed that Biden administration had no prior knowledge about Ukraine’s intention but that the maritime intelligent sharing was aimed at bolstering defences for the Ukrainian Army in tase of an assault from the Russian warship.

Moskva was the largest warship to sink during a war since World War II and resulted in significant casualties.

Black Sea Fleet commander replaced by ‘unidentified’ chief?

Russian outlet, Ryber, confirmed that Sokolov was effectively removed as Black Sea Fleet commander and was replaced by an unidentified chief of staff. A pro-Kremlin military blogger Roman Saponkov, derided commander Sokolov for issuing orders to the Russian Navy that undermined security of the warship. He claimed on a Telegram channel that sinking of the Tsezar Kunikov led to the loss of 20% of Russian Black Sea Fleet.

Ukrainian military commenters labelled the attack as the Drones of Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU) operation. At the of sinking, there were an estimated 87 crew members onboard. Russian Black Sea Fleet's website describes the Tsezar Kunikov warship as the Project 775 large landing ship, approximately 112.5 metres long, 15 metres wide donning a draft of 3.7 metres.

The Russian warship deployed deadly weapons such as the 2x2 57-mm AK-725 artillery pieces, 4x8 launchers of man-portable air defence systems, and 2x30 122-mm A-215 Grad-M multiple rocket launchers. The vessel could set up the minefields and had various loading options—150 troops and 10 T-55 tanks with a crew of 40; 12 PT-76 amphibious swimming tanks with a crew of 36; a unit consisting of 3 T-55 tanks with a crew of 12, 3 120-mm mortars, 3 2G 27 combat vehicles, 4 ZIL-130 vehicles, 4 GAZ-66 vehicles and one GAZ-69 off-road vehicle.

The landing party of the warship consisted of 147 troops. The vessel could carry 650 tonnes of argo and could sail to a distance of approximately 4,700 miles.  It was named after Tsezar Lvovich Kunikov, a Soviet officer and commander of a landing unit, who died on February 14 1943.

Russia shot down six UA drones

Earlier yesterday, the Russian Ministry of Defense said that its air defense systems shot down at least six drones in the contentious Black Sea. The pro-kremlin commenters reported seeing “something on fire” in the sea in proximity to Alupka-Katsiveli. At least two military helicopters were spotted circling low over the water. The incident was first reported by Krymsky Veter outlet that said Russian landing ship was struck with a Ukrainian drone. Shortly, a Russian Ka-27 search and rescue helicopter was seen flying low in Foros, Crimea.

Tsezar Kunikov was docked in port city of Berdiansk during the onslaught of Russia on Ukraine. It sustained damage when Ukrainian forces sank the Saratov landing ship in March 2022.

Russia has significantly reduced its Naval presence in the Black Sea following the instating of the 1936 Montreux Convention Regarding the Regime of the Straits by Turkiye, that gives the NATO member state the total control over the maritimes lanes in Black Sea and Mediterranean Sea. 

The passages of vessels of war, aircraft carriers, and fighter jets are subject to restrictions which vary depending on whether these vessels belong to Black Sea littoral States or not. In March, 2022, Turkiye activate the Montreux Convention to ban the Russian war vessels from entering the Black Sea through the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits.