MOSCOW, December 1. /TASS/. Russia’s four fleets and the Caspian Flotilla have been directly re-subordinated to the Navy’s Commander-in-Chief Admiral Nikolay Yevmenov, a source close to the top brass told TASS on Friday.
"Four fleets and the Caspian Flotilla have been directly resubordinated to the Navy’s commander-in-chief on December 1, when the Russian Defense Ministry began a new academic year," the source said.
TASS has no official confirmation of this.
Until recently, the Black Sea, Baltic and Pacific fleets, as well as the Caspian Flotilla were subordinate to the respective military districts, while the Northern Fleet was a unified strategic command enjoying the status of a military district.
According to the source, the ground forces and the Air Force and Air Defense Force army, stationed in the area of responsibility of the Northern Fleet in four regions of northern Russia, will be transferred to the yet-to-be formed Leningrad Military District.
Earlier, there were reports that the Russian Defense Ministry had suggested cancelling the Northern Fleet’s status of a combined service unified strategic command and to transfer of a number of areas from its zone of responsibility to the Leningrad Military District. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decree to this effect was published on October 8. It was issued within the framework of implementing the president’s decision on the direct subordination of the fleets and the Caspian Flotilla to the Navy’s commander-in-chief.