CNN —
The US Coast Guard says it is tracking a suspected Russian spy ship off the coast of Hawaii in international waters, as tensions between Washington and Moscow remain over Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“In recent weeks, the US Coast Guard has continued to monitor a Russian vessel, believed to be an intelligence gathering vessel, off the coast of Hawaii,” the USCG said in a statement.
The Coast Guard noted that the situation is not unusual, but is monitoring it closely. “Although foreign warships may pass freely through the US Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) under customary international law, foreign-flagged warships have often been observed operating and loitering in the Coast Guard’s Fourteenth Area Response Area.” , the announcement said.
This is not the first time suspected Russian spy ships have sailed off the coast of the United States. In 2019, a Russian spy ship off the southeast coast of the United States was observed operating in what two U.S. officials told CNN was an “unsafe manner.”
The actions of the Viktor Leonov, a Russian surveillance vessel sailing off the coasts of South Carolina and Florida, were deemed unsafe because it did not use lights in low visibility and did not respond to attempts by merchant ships to communicate to avoid potential accidents.
The USCG said in the release that it “continues to coordinate with Department of Defense partners, providing updates on the movements and activities of foreign vessels and responding appropriately with presence to promote international maritime norms.”
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