Sergei Lipilin

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Sergei Vladimirovich Lipilin, born 28 August 1965 in Nizhneudinsk, then part of the Soviet Union, is a senior officer in the Russian Navy. He has the rank of Vice-Admiral and has been the commander of the Baltic Fleet since 2024.

Lipilin studied at the Pacific Higher Naval School in Vladivostok, finishing the mine and torpedo faculty in 1987. He served in the Pacific Fleet on Krivak-class frigates in Kamchatka, rising from mine-and-torpedo duties to ship’s senior assistant. By 1995 he was an assistant to the commander of the cruiser Varyag (Slava-class) and moved with Varyag to the Primorsky Flotilla’s 36th Surface Ship Division. He later held various command and staff roles in the Primorsky Flotilla, commanded the Sovremenny-class destroyers Bezboyaznenny and Bystry, then the cruiser Varyag, and became chief of staff and later commander of its surface ship division in 2008.

He studied at the Kuznetsov Naval Academy, graduating in 2002. In 2009 he took command of the Black Sea Fleet’s 30th Division of Surface Ships. After graduating from the Military Academy of the General Staff in 2012, he became chief of staff and first deputy commander of the Northeastern Group of Troops and Forces. In 2014 he led a Pacific Fleet detachment during Peace Mission exercises and was appointed to command the formation. Lipilin was promoted to rear admiral on 11 June 2015. He served as deputy commander of the Black Sea Fleet in 2018, and in 2021 became chief of staff and first deputy commander of the Baltic Fleet, a post he held until becoming its commander in 2024.

Awards include the Orders of Military Merit and Naval Merit, the Medal of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" Second Class, and several other medals.