SEVASTOPOL, March 31 /TASS/. The Russian Armed Forces General Staff is calculating how many ships the Russian Black Sea Fleet needs to be able to fulfill the assigned tasks, Admiral Igor Kasatonov, the General Staff’s adviser, told TASS on Wednesday.

"There cannot be too many ships. Of course, we will never return to the Soviet figures of 850 ship pendants but the fleet needs new ships anyway. We need a combat fleet and an auxiliary fleet. The General Staff is making calculations proceeding from the assigned tasks and the pace of making new ships," Kasatonov said.

A source at the Black Sea fleet’s headquarters told TASS that the tasks to be assigned to the Black Sea Fleet would depend on potential threats and the theatre of military hostilities.