Putin continues cleaning house with navy command shake-up as Ukraine year 3 looms

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Russia's Black Sea Fleet suffered significant losses over the five months following the collapse of the U.N.-brokered grain deal as Ukraine staked a strong claim over major routes through the Black Sea. (Video: East2West)

Russian President Vladimir Putin has commenced a broad cleaning measure this week, starting with sweeping changes in naval leadership as Moscow stares down the start of a third year of its invasion of Ukraine. 

"Admiral Viktor Sokolov has finally been removed from the post of commander of the Black Sea Fleet," Telegram channel Military Informant wrote earlier this week. "It seems that it has become impossible to ignore the latest heavy losses of the fleet." 

Putin replaced Sokolov with his deputy, Vice-Admiral Sergey Pinchuk, while searching for a long-term replacement, according to pro-Kremlin military analyst Sergey Markov. 

"The commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet has been replaced," Markov wrote in a Telegram post. "This decision has been met with great understanding and approval in Russia."

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Sokolov had already survived one scare when Ukraine claimed he was among some three dozen officers killed in the early stages of the Black Sea counteroffensive that ultimately pushed Russia’s forces out of the Western region of the sea. Now, reports claim he’s only suspended.

Russian President Vladimir Putin grimaces during his meeting with workers at the AO Konar plant in Chelyabinsk, Russia, a few minutes after his spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Putin had been informed about Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny's death on Friday. (Contributor/Getty Images)

Another reporter noted that under Sokolov’s reign during recent months, the fleet saw too many ships "ruined," including the destruction of a nearly $70 million missile ship, the Ivanovets, at the start of February. 

Markov had complained that the losses in the Black Sea Fleet would effectively ruin any plans for Russia to take Odesa, a critical port city in Ukraine and a major export hub for grain. 

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Sokolov himself took over from a previously failed naval commander who lost the state-of-the-art cruiser Moskva in 2022 following a Neptune missile strike from Ukraine. 

The Turkish Naval Forces Command conducted Exercise Denizkurdu-1 2024 in the Black Sea, Aegean Sea and Eastern Mediterranean simultaneously on Jan. 15 in Mugla, Turkey.  (Yavuz Ozden/ dia images via Getty Images)

Putin also had to change the head of his Ministry of Defense several times near the end of the first year of the invasion after failing to make the necessary gains against what many had deemed an inferior force. 

The Black Sea Fleet losses have proven even more devastating due to the severity of losses in such a short time frame; Ukraine commenced its counteroffensive after Russia allowed a United Nations-backed grain deal to collapse and attacked Ukrainian grain facilities along its coast. 

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Ukraine claimed to have sunk 25 of the approximately 80 vessels deployed at the start of the invasion, with an additional 15 under repair. 

In this Feb. 20, 2021, file photo, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny stands in a cage in the Babuskinsky District Court in Moscow. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

The change in leadership occurred just days before Putin’s biggest domestic rival, Alexei Nalvany, was found dead after falling unconscious, The Associated Press reported. Russia’s Federal Prison Service said that an ambulance arrived to try and resuscitate Navalny, but could not. 

Navalny's spokesperson said Friday in a post on X that "we have no confirmation of this yet" and "Alexei's lawyer is currently on his way to Kharp" in northern Russia.

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Navalny was being held at the IK-3 penal colony, also known as "Polar Wolf," in Kharp, which is considered one of the country's toughest prisons.

Navalny had previously organized anti-government demonstrations and had run for office to advocate for reforms against what he claimed was corruption in Russia. He was the victim of an alleged assassination attempt in 2020, when he suffered poisoning from a suspected Novichok nerve agent.