“Exodus” of Russian ships from Black Sea Fleet’s reserve base sparks rumors

4 comments

1. New imagery appears to show vessels with Russia’s Black Sea Fleet have left the country’s Novorossiysk base, after Moscow relocated its ships further east in the Black Sea to shield its fleet from persistent Ukrainian attacks.

   The imagery, dated June 5, indicates a possible “exodus” of Black Sea Fleet vessels from the base in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region, [an open-source intelligence account posted to social media.](https://x.com/MT_Anderson/status/1798528640092909744/photo/1)

   *Newsweek* could not independently verify the imagery, and has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email.

   Ukraine’s navy said early on Thursday that four Russian ships were in the Black Sea, including a Kalibr-cruise missile carrier, as of 7 a.m. local time.

2. What rumors exactly? The article just says they may have moved from Novorussiysk. Is the rumor that they are evacuating even that location in favor of an Abkhazian port?

3. They don’t have enough SAMs, AWACS, Corvettes, sailors nor anything.

   You either have a fleet or you don’t. The BSF’s been a bare bones fleet for decades. It was basically the life support unit for the *Moskoba* aaaand it did the job very, very badly.

   Yep, the baddest navy boat east of the Bosphorus Straits is now covered in parking tickets from the Bikini Bottom PD.

   Imagine if we’d given our freedom loving Ukrainian forces permission to blow stuff up in Ruzzia?

4. > Russia’s former defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, previously announced that Moscow would beef up the protection around its Black Sea fleet, adding large-caliber machine guns to shoot at incoming drones before they can hit Russian vessels.

   Um, wouldn’t you want more shotgun like shrapnel shooting guns that would have a better chance of hitting the small drone. This is why they use a shotgun for hunting small birds:

   https://www.outdoorlife.com/gear/best-shotguns-for-bird-hunting