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Admiral Liina appointed as commander of Russia’s Pacific Fleet — source

On October 5, 2021, Vice Admiral Viktor Liina was appointed as commander of the Baltic Fleet

MOSCOW, April 21. /TASS/. Admiral Viktor Liina who commanded Russia’s Baltic Fleet has been appointed as commander of the Pacific Fleet, a source close to the Russian Defense Ministry told TASS on Friday.

"Admiral Liina has been appointed as commander of the Pacific Fleet. He replaced Admiral Sergey Avakyants in this post," the source said.

TASS has no official confirmation of this information yet.

Two sources close to the Russian Defense Ministry told TASS on April 20 that Admiral Liina might replace Pacific Fleet Commander Sergey Avakyants in this post while Vice Admiral Vorobyov might be appointed as commander of the Baltic Fleet. They also said that Avakyants had recently celebrated his 65th birthday and, therefore, reached his maximum service limit.

Liina was born on June 19, 1968 in Pechory in the northwestern Pskov Region. In 1990, he graduated from the Frunze Higher Naval School and served as an engineer of an electro-navigational group of a submarine cruiser in the Northern Fleet. In 1999-2004, Liina commanded the 74th Segezha nuclear-powered submarine cruiser’s crew of the Northern Fleet’s 11th submarine division. In 2006, he graduated from the Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Kuznetsov Naval Academy with honors and sequentially held the posts of deputy commander, chief of staff and commander of a submarine division and then deputy commander of the Northern Fleet’s submarine forces.

In 2010, Liina was appointed as commander of the Northern Fleet’s Belomorsk naval base. Two years later, he was promoted to the rank of rear admiral and was appointed as commander of the Northeastern Group of Troops and Forces. In 2014, he enrolled at the General Staff Military Academy. After graduating from it early in 2016, he was appointed as first deputy commander of the Black Sea Fleet. From August 1, 2019, he held the post of deputy chief of the Russian General staff. On October 5, 2021, Vice Admiral Viktor Liina was appointed as commander of the Baltic Fleet.

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