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Defense Ministry appoints vice-admiral Nosatov to perform duties of Baltic Fleet chief

Vice-Admiral Mukhametshin will perform the duties of the Baltic Fleet chief of staff

MOSCOW, July 1. /TASS/. Vice-Admiral Alexander Nosatov and Vice-Admiral Igor Mukhametshin will perform the duties of the Baltic Fleet commander and chief of staff, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Friday.

"As you know, the Defense Ministry held a board meeting on June 29, which considered the state of affairs in the Baltic Fleet. I have endorsed the board’s decision on removing Vice-Admirals [Viktor] Kravchuk and [Sergei] Popov from the command of the fleet for serious neglect," Shoigu said at a conference call at the National Defense Control Center.

"I have admitted Vice-Admiral Nosatov, Alexander Mikhailovich, to the performance of the duties of the fleet’s commander and Vice-Admiral Mukhametshin, Igor Timerbulatovich, to the performance of the duties of the fleet’s chief of staff, first deputy commander and Major-General Kakhramanov, Ilgar Marsih-ogly, to the performance of the duties of the fleet’s deputy commander for material and technical supply," the defense minister said.

The Russian defense minister instructed his deputies, the Navy commander-in-chief, the troops commander of the Western Military District, the heads of the central bodies of military governance and the fleet’s new command "to take comprehensive joint measures to remedy the situation and bring things to order in the Baltic Fleet."

As a source in the Baltic Fleet’s staff told TASS, Nosatov had been introduced to officers as the fleet’s acting commander back on Thursday.