Russia and US in Rare Naval Standoff

A RUSSIAN warship threatened to ‘ram’ an American destroyer in the area between the Pacific coasts of both countries in a rare naval standoff.

On Tuesday Russia said their ship, the ‘Admiral Vinogradov’, threatened the American vessel after it ‘behaved illegally’ in their territory of the Sea of Japan. They claim the ‘USS John S McCain’ crossed two kilometres into Russian owned waters.

The US rebuked this claim, saying their ship was engaged in a ‘freedom of navigation’ expedition to challenge what they see as Russia’s ‘excessive’ territorial claims in the Peter the Great Gulf. A Navy official warned that the US will ‘never bow in intimidation or be coerced into accepting illegitimate maritime claims’.

Rare naval standoffs between the two countries occur occasionally, such as in in January Navy ships from the US and Russia came within 60 years of each other in the North Arabian Sea. In 2019 two vessels from both countries nearly collided near the Philippines. More common is airspace disputes, with the US claiming that Russian aircraft ‘take pleasure’ in scrambling their planes along their borders.

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