President Vladimir Putin’s envoy for the Russian Far East said on Thursday that the commander of the Pacific Fleet of the Russian Navy had been relieved of his duties.
A week after the Pacific Fleet was instructed to conduct surprise combat drills to repel a potential enemy landing, the reorganisation was announced.
Admiral Sergei Avakyants, 66, who has commanded the Pacific Fleet since 2012, will now lead a new organisation that regulates military training and patriotism teaching, according to presidential envoy Yury Trutnev.
Trutnev stated that Avakyants, who most recently oversaw the Pacific Fleet, would be in control of the headquarters.
The Vladivostok port-based Russian Pacific Fleet hasn’t issued any commentary on the changes.
Sergei Shoigu, the Russian defence minister, put the Pacific Fleet on high alert on Friday in preparation for quick drills in the southern Sea of Okhotsk to thwart missile and aerial strikes on Sakhalin Island and the southern Kuril islands.
Moscow and Tokyo have been embroiled in a long-running dispute over the southern Kuril islands, which has prevented the two nations from concluding a formal peace treaty to conclude World War II.
