The Kremlin has removed sailors from the abandoned Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier and sent them to fight. The ship is unlikely to ever return to sea, according to Forbes.

The Admiral Kuznetsov, Russia's only aircraft carrier of its class, has not been on combat duty for eight years, and each year, the probability of its return to service grows slimmer.

Analyst David Ax notes that approximately 1,500 sailors from the aircraft carrier were reorganized into a "frigate" mechanized battalion as part of the Russian Federation's 1st Guards Tank Army. Ax emphasizes that this move illustrates the crisis within Russia’s naval forces and the general obsolescence of its large warships, many of which date back to the Cold War era.

The transfer of sailors from the Kuznetsov is another step by the Kremlin in its search for new reserves for the war in Ukraine. While Putin avoids introducing nationwide connoscription due to political risks, the Russian military is forced to redeploy ship crews to make up for losses at the front.

The decline of the Admiral Kuznetsov also underscores Russia's inability to maintain its fleet in combat readiness. In 2018, the ship was seriously damaged during the flooding of the dry dock where it was being repaired. A year later, a fire broke out on the ship, and although the plan was to return it to service by 2022, another fire in December of that year disrupted these plans once again. Currently, the aircraft carrier remains docked in Murmansk.

Ax also points out that in other countries, such ships would have been scrapped and replaced with new ones. However, due to the weakness of Russian industry, which is incapable of building modern large warships, the Admiral Kuznetsov, like most of Russia’s large ships, remains in service despite its worn-out hull and mechanisms.

Military expert Pavel Luzin emphasizes that one of the main issues lies with the engines. Most of the large marine engines for the Soviet fleet were manufactured in Ukrainian factories, and now, due to the war, Russia can no longer acquire them. Establishing domestic production has proven difficult for the Russians, further complicating the fleet’s maintenance.