MOSCOW, February 26. /TASS/. Russia’s Northern Fleet has lost the status of a strategic multi-service formation, according to the presidential decree posted on the government’s legal information web portal on Monday.

The provisions that assigned this status to the Northern Fleet are deemed to be no longer in force, according to the document.

The regions of Russia’s North-Western Federal District previously assigned to the Northern Fleet, namely, the Republic of Komi, the Arkhangelsk and Murmansk Regions and the Nenets Autonomous Region are now included in the newly formed Leningrad Military District, the document says.

The plans to re-establish the Moscow and Leningrad Military Districts in Russia were first mentioned by Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu at the ministry’s board meeting in December 2022. In turn, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in December 2023 that Russia had to re-establish the Leningrad Military District due to Finland’s accession to NATO.