Russia's move of its Black Sea Fleet to safer waters signals its waning power there, experts told Insider. AdvertisementAdvertisementRussia's withdrawal of ships from a key Crimean base to safer ports shows it has "clearly lost its control" over the Black Sea in naval and geopolitical terms, a top naval expert told Insider. Pointing to those attacks, James Heappey, a UK defense minister, said during a defense event in Warsaw last Tuesday that the move signaled the "functional defeat" of the Black Sea Fleet. As of Sunday, multiple ships carrying grain, sunflower oil, and metals had sailed out of Ukraine's ports in the northwestern Black Sea, The Guardian reported. AdvertisementAdvertisementHardline pro-Kremlin Telegram account Rybar wrote on Friday that it's "difficult to accept" that "the Black Sea Fleet cannot fully ensure its security now."

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Persons: —, Basil Germond, Germond, James Heappey, Heappey, Armed Forces @JSHeappey Organizations: Fleet, Service, Lancaster University, Montreux Convention, UK's Ministry of Defence, Black, Armed Forces, Warsaw Security, — Ministry of Defence Locations: Sevastopol, Russia, Ukraine, Turkish, Novorossiysk, Crimea, Warsaw, Ukrainian