The command of the Russian Black Sea Fleet has almost certainly redeployed its submarines from Sevastopol to Novorossiysk. This is stated in the message of the Ministry of Defense of Great Britain.
We are talking about submarines of the Kilo class according to NATO codification. These are the ships of Project 877 Halibut and Project 636 Varshavyanka. Multiple data indicate that the 4th separate submarine brigade of the Black Sea Fleet consists only of them. Consequently, all ships were withdrawn from Sevastopol.
The British Ministry of Defense believes that this is due to the increased security threat that arose due to the fact that the Armed Forces of Ukraine received new long-range weapons. Over the past two months, thanks to him, the headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet and the Russian air base in the Crimea have been attacked.
The British Ministry of Defense report also emphasizes that the guarantee of the Black Sea Fleet in Crimea was probably one of the reasons for the annexation of the peninsula by Russia in 2014. Now the security of the fleet is under threat because of the war against Ukraine.
In April, Sergei Bratchuk, spokesman for the operational headquarters of the Odessa Regional State Administration , said that Russia was using submarines to carry out missile strikes against Ukraine. According to him, we are talking about at least four submarines of project 877 Halibut.