Russian leader Vladimir Putin appointed Vice Admiral Sergey Pinchuk as the new commander of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, state news agency RIA Novosti reported on April 2.
I dare him to get on a ship and sail into the Black Sea.
Go on. Pussy, I dare you.
I would guess that most really-high-ranking navy people in command of a theater don’t normally go anywhere other than a desk on land, Russia or no.
That being said, Ukraine’s hit the new Black Sea Fleet headquarters that Russia set up in Sevastopol months ago.
Ukraine said that they killed this guy’s predecessor and Russia claimed that he survived. Given that he hasn’t been seen since Ukraine hit the headquarters and given that the Kremlin is now assigning a replacement, I’d kind of lean towards Ukraine’s assessment being accurate.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Sokolov_(naval_officer)
Sokolov has not been seen since Ukraine claimed his death on 22 September 2023 when the Black Sea Fleet headquarters in Sevastopol, Crimea, was hit by Storm Shadow cruise missiles fired by Ukraine in Operation Crab Trap. The Russian government denied that he had been killed and published a video purporting to show him still alive. In 2024, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Sokolov, citing his alleged war crimes during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Either way, though, I suspect that if he tries to set up office in Crimea, he’s probably liable to have some personal risk.
He looks like an infected thumb.
