US Coast Guard tracking Russian spy ship off coast of Hawaii in international waters

The US Coast Guard says it is tracking a suspected Russian spy ship off the coast of Hawaii in international waters as heightened tensions between Washington and Moscow remain over Russian’s war in Ukraine.

“In recent weeks, the U.S. Coast Guard has continued to monitor a Russian vessel, believed to be an intelligence gathering ship, off the coast of the Hawaiian Islands,” the USCG said in a news release.

The Coast Guard noted the situation is not unusual but that it is tracking it closely. “While foreign military vessels may transit freely through the U.S. economic exclusive zone (EEZ), as per customary international laws, foreign-flagged military vessels have often been observed operating and loitering within Coast Guard District Fourteen’s area of response,” the release stated.

This is not the first time suspected Russia spy ships have sailed off the coast of the United States. In 2019, a Russian spy ship off the southeastern coast of the United States was observed operating in what two US officials told CNN was an “unsafe manner.”

The actions of the Viktor Leonov, a Russian surveillance ship sailing off the coast of South Carolina and Florida, were determined to be unsafe because it was not using running lights in low visibility weather and was not responding to commercial vessels’ attempts to communicate to avoid potential accidents.

The USCG said in the release that it “continues to coordinate with Department of Defense partners, providing updates to foreign vessel movements and activities and to appropriately meet presence with presence to encourage international maritime norms.” source

U.S. Coast Guard is tracking a Russian “intelligence gathering ship” off Hawaii

U.S. Coast Guard officials are monitoring a Russian ship seen in waters near the Hawaiian Islands they believe is being used to gather intelligence, the agency said this week.

In a news release issued on Wednesday, the Coast Guard noted that international laws allow foreign military vessels to travel freely through the U.S. economic exclusive zone, which designates portions of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans where the U.S. and other coastal nations have control over natural resources, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. But “foreign-flagged military vessels,” conceivably, like the Russian ship under surveillance near Hawaii, “have often been observed operating and loitering” in that particular area, according to the Coast Guard.

It belongs to the agency’s 14th district, whose jurisdiction includes the waters surrounding the Hawaiian Islands as well as most of the central and western Pacific.

“The District Commander oversees 25 operational units ashore and afloat throughout the Pacific, which regularly perform missions in maritime safety, protection of natural resources, maritime security, homeland security, and national defense,” reads a description of District Fourteen on the Coast Guard’s government website.

District Fourteen is the bureau’s “largest area of responsibility,” covering more than 14 million square miles of land and sea, according to the Coast Guard. It includes units on Oahu, Maui, Kauai, the Big Island, and in American Samoa, Saipan, Guam, Singapore and Japan, and employs close to 1,800 troops in active duty, reserve, civilian and auxiliary roles, the site description states.

BY EMILY MAE CZACHOR source