You're reading: Putin appoints ex-Ukrainian Navy Commander Berezovsky as Russian Black Sea Fleet deputy commander

 Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree to appoint Rear Admiral Denis Berezovsky as a Deputy Commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet and Rear Admiral Igor Smolyak as the Head of the Nakhimov Higher Naval Institute. He relieved Smolyak of his duties as the commander of the 36th division of surface ships of the Pacific Fleet, the Kremlin press service said on April 21.

 As reported earlier, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu presented the personal number of a Russian serviceman to Berezovsky during his working trip to Crimea on March 24.

The rear admiral used to be the Ukrainian Navy Commander. He took an oath of allegiance to the people of Crimea on March 2. The Kyiv authorities removed him from the Navy commander’s office and Ukrainian prosecutors began probing his activity.