MOSCOW, (Reuters) – The new head of Russia’s Navy was formally presented in his new role for the first time on Tuesday at a pomp-filled ceremony, the state RIA news agency reported, confirming the appointment of Admiral Alexander Moiseev as acting head of the Navy.
His appointment follows a series of sustained Ukrainian attacks on Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, which is traditionally based in Crimea, which Moscow took from Kyiv in 2014.
Moiseev replaces Nikolai Yevmenov, the previous head of the Navy.
RIA showed video of a ceremony at the port of Kronstadt near St Petersburg where it said Moiseev was presented as acting head of the Navy.
He served on nuclear submarines for more than 29 years and has been decorated at a Hero of Russia, the country’s top military award.
He was appointed acting commander and then commander of the Black Sea Fleet in 2018 and then appointed commander of the Northern Fleet in 2019 before taking up his current role.
Who is Moiseev?
LIFE
Moiseev was born on April 16, 1962 in Kaliningrad. He graduated from a film college in the region and was drafted into the Soviet Army in 1981.
He studied at the Alexander Popov Naval Institute of Radio Electronics in St Petersburg, graduating in 1987. He graduated from the Russian navy officer course in 1995.
In 2003 he received honours from the Kuznetsov Naval Academy in St. Petersburg and in 2011 he graduated from the military academy of the General Staff.
SUBMARINER
For more than 29 years, he served on nuclear submarines.
He served on the Delta-class of Soviet nuclear powered ballistic missile submarines as part of the Northern Fleet.
State news agency TASS said he was an engineer in the computing group and then commander of the radio engineering combat unit (BCH-7) of the K-117 Bryansk submarine.
In 1994, he was transferred to the K18 Delta-class Karelia as senior assistant commander for combat control. He was awarded the Order of Courage for his participation in an operation in the North Pole.
He was made a Hero of Russia in 2011.
COMMANDER
From 1995, he served as senior assistant to the commander of the K-117, and than from 1997 as commander of the second crew of the K-407 submarine. While commander of the K-407, he oversaw the launch of the Shtil-1 launch vehicle from the Barents Sea.
He rose swiftly through the ranks in the Northern fleet before being appointed deputy chief of the general staff.
In 2018, he was appointed acting commander and then commander of the Black Sea Fleet.
In 2019, he was appointed commander of the Northern Fleet when the previous commander, Yevmenov, was made commander of the navy.
Ohoto: By Mil.ru, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=101823932
