MOSCOW, Oct 7 - RIA Novosti. The creation of another fleet in the structure of the Russian Armed Forces, which would operate on the Northern Sea Route, would help unload the Northern Fleet, which recently became the fifth military District, Admiral Viktor Kravchenko, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Navy (1998-2005), told RIA Novosti.
Earlier, Russian media, citing sources, reported on plans to create the Arctic Fleet – a new association of the Russian Navy to ensure security on the Northern Sea Route and the Arctic coast. Now this is the area of responsibility of the Northern and Pacific Fleets.
"This is probably correct in the sense that the Northern Fleet has enough tasks already, and a regional association is being introduced here that will deal directly with the Northern Sea Route," Kravchenko said.
In his opinion, it would be logical to create a separate association that would be closed to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, interact with the Northern and Pacific Fleets, but would not be part of any of them.
The decrees of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, assigning the status of a separate military administrative unit to the Northern Fleet of Russia - the fifth military district - and making it an interspecific strategic territorial association of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, entered into force on January 1, 2021. Before that, the Northern Fleet, along with other fleets of the Russian Navy, had the status of an operational and strategic association.
